[Anchor]
The KOSPI has plummeted once again, falling below the 5,500 threshold. Sell sidecars were triggered simultaneously on both the KOSPI and KOSDAQ markets, dealt a direct blow by the weakness in U.S. semiconductor stocks.
Reporter Kwon Ran has the details.
[Reporter]
The KOSPI started the trading session down more than 2 percent from yesterday (the 4th) at 5,580 and plunged steeply thereafter.
As the losses widened, even the 5,500 line collapsed, with the index briefly threatening the 5,400 range.
Samsung Electronics plummeted over 5 percent and SK Hynix dropped more than 7 percent, dragging the index down.
A massive sell-off, with foreign investors dumping more than 1.4 trillion won worth of shares, is also fueling the decline.
As a flood of sell orders poured in, a sell sidecar was triggered just over an hour into the session, temporarily suspending program sell orders for five minutes.
This marks the first time a sell sidecar has been triggered on the KOSPI market in about a week since October 30.
This is the 56th sidecar triggered this year alone, with sell sidecars accounting for 29 of them, highlighting extreme stock market volatility.
The weakness of U.S. semiconductor stocks is cited as the cause of today's sharp market decline.
Overnight on Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Nasdaq rose, but the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index dropped more than 3 percent.
This was driven by growing concerns that regulations on AI data centers could tighten following a landslide victory by the Democratic Party in the U.S. midterm elections.
The KOSDAQ market also suffered a simultaneous sharp decline.
The 700 mark collapsed early in the session, and a sell sidecar was triggered following the KOSPI.
Major tech stocks, including semiconductor equipment shares, showed weakness and led the index lower.
(Video Editing: Park Ji-in)
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