Pharmaceutical stocks plunge on U.S. credit downgrade

Domestic drug firms have seen their stocks plummet over the past several days as retail and foreign investors have dumped shares on the U.S. credit downgrade and fears of a global economic recession.

The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) dipped as low as 9 percent, dropping below the 1,700-level within the first two hours of trading driven by foreign investors’ selling spre...