U.S. Secretary of State Rubio said Iran, despite a show of toughness, is enduring severe pain and will continue to do so.

YONHAP reported July 23 that a special investigation team of police and prosecutors raided the National Election Commission headquarters and its branches. Authorities say evidence suggests some commission staff allegedly manipulated data to hide errors in reported turnout for the June 3 local elections; the raids follow an ongoing probe into ballot shortages during the polls and mark a new development in the investigation.

One of the market's most attractive arbitrage opportunities remains unavailable after the Korea Securities Depository (KSD) set a cap on converting Korea-listed SK Hynix shares into US-traded American depositary receipts at 2.5% of total share capital. KSD's CEO said the $26.5 bln ADR issued on July 10 has exhausted the issuance quota. Unless existing ADR holders first convert their US ADRs back into Korean shares to free up capacity, investors cannot convert Seoul-listed stock into ADRs. SK Hynix declined to comment.