Trading volume in S. Korean stock market drops sharply amid

South Korea's stock market has seen trading volume and market capitalization plunge as investor sentiment worsened with the U.S. and Chinese economies showing signs of slowing down amid the eurozone financial crisis, market watchers said Wednesday.

The benchmark KOSPI market's capitalization has dropped to 1,061 trillion won ($898 billion) as of May 31, a level similar to August last year. The secondary tech-focused KOSDAQ market's capitalization fell to 99 trillion won at the end of May, the first time the figure dropped below 100 trillion won.

Trading volume fell more sharply.

The total value of stocks traded in the KOSPI market on May 31 was 4.66 trillion won, a 25 percent drop from 6.02 trillion won at the end of August last year. Trading volume in the KOSPI market also dropped about 31 percent to 1.56 trillion won from August last year.

The drop in trading volume is expected to hurt the profitability of local securities firms. Analysts said trading volume should be at least 6-7 trillion won if securities firms are to meet the break-even point. (Yonhap News)