South Korean Finance Minister Gwarun Chol held an emergency meeting on Sunday to discuss recent developments in the financial and foreign exchange markets and response measures. The South Korean Ministry of Finance stated that Finance Minister Gwaru Chol co chaired the meeting with senior officials from the Bank of Korea, financial regulatory agencies, Ministry of Welfare, and Ministry of Trade, but did not disclose any other details. The Bank of Korea stated that in the event of a large-scale deposit withdrawal or other liquidity crisis, it will accept loan assets from financial institutions as collateral and provide emergency liquidity support.

　　On Monday, the Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) of South Korea announced that it has decided to extend the bond market stabilization plan until next year, citing risks posed by changes in domestic and international monetary policies and an increase in government bond issuance. The committee statement stated that its 37.6 trillion won (approximately $25.5 billion) bond and short-term money market stabilization fund, as well as 60.9 trillion won real estate project financing support plan, will be extended until 2026. FSC also stated that in view of the rising cautious sentiment in the domestic financial market, the rise in bond yields, and the increasing volatility of exchange rates, if necessary, market stabilization measures will be taken in advance.

　　In terms of individual stocks, SK Hynix led the decline in Korean chip stocks, following Wall Street's downward trend last Friday. SK Hynix's stock price fell 4.38% to 546000 Korean won, with Samsung Electronics, Hyundai Construction, Doosan Group and others leading the decline.

　　Recently, SK Hynix responded that the growth in memory demand has significantly exceeded previous expectations and is responding to the rapid increase in AI related memory demand by building new wafer fabs and deploying production capacity in advance. However, it is still difficult to make a clear judgment on the duration of the memory shortage. The newly built M15X factory by SK Hynix has been completed in 2 years and put into operation ahead of schedule. The factory will be dedicated to the production of HBM chips and plans to start full-scale production next year.

　　The Nikkei 225 Index plummeted sharply

　　In terms of the Japanese stock market, the Nikkei 225 index opened sharply lower, falling more than 1.4% at one point.

　　On the news front, the confidence of large Japanese manufacturers has risen to the highest level in four years, which enhances market expectations for the Bank of Japan's interest rate hike this week.

　　The quarterly Tankan business survey released by the Bank of Japan on Monday showed that the business confidence index for December rose from 14 in September to 15. This result is consistent with the median forecast of economists. The index of large non manufacturing enterprises remains at 34, close to the highest level since the early 1990s. This means that there are more companies that consider their operating conditions to be "favorable" than those that consider their operating conditions to be "unfavorable". The Short Observation Survey is one of the most closely watched data from the Bank of Japan, showing that Japanese companies have not yet been significantly impacted by US tariffs. This result further supports the expectation that the Policy Committee led by Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda will raise interest rates on Friday.