As the domestic stock market plunged for the second consecutive day following yesterday (the 28th), circuit breakers were simultaneously triggered on both the KOSPI and KOSDAQ markets for two days in a row.

According to the Korea Exchange (KRX), a circuit breaker was triggered in the KOSDAQ market at around 12:19:12 p.m. today (the 29th), suspending trading for 20 minutes.

Shortly after, about 13 minutes later at 12:32:32 p.m., a circuit breaker was also activated in the KOSPI market.

At the time of activation, the KOSDAQ index stood at 649.00, down 56.85 points (8.05%) from the previous session, and the KOSPI was at 5,532.33, down 491.33 points (8.15%).

The Korea Exchange triggers a "stage 1" circuit breaker when either the KOSPI or KOSDAQ index drops by 8% or more compared to the previous day and that situation persists for one minute.

When a circuit breaker is activated, trading is halted for 20 minutes, and the acceptance of orders—excluding cancellation orders—is also suspended.

Even after trading resumes, single-price trading is conducted for 10 minutes.

This marks the 15th time a circuit breaker has been triggered in the KOSPI market historically and the 9th time this year. For the KOSDAQ market, it is the 14th time historically and the 4th time this year.

On the previous day, both markets saw their KOSPI and KOSDAQ indexes plummet by 11% and 8% ranges respectively during trading hours, resulting in successive circuit breaker activations.

This is the first time that circuit breakers have been simultaneously triggered for two consecutive days across both markets representing the South Korean stock market.

According to Korea Exchange data, there has never been a case where a circuit breaker was triggered on consecutive days in the KOSPI market. In the KOSDAQ market, circuit breakers were triggered on consecutive days on two previous occasions: during the 2008 global financial crisis and the 2011 U.S. credit rating downgrade incident.

Meanwhile, earlier this morning, sidecars (temporary suspension of program buy/sell orders) were successively triggered in the KOSPI and KOSDAQ markets.

At around 10:55:07 a.m. today, program sell orders on the KOSPI market were suspended for 5 minutes due to fluctuations in the KOSPI 200 futures index. At around 10:56:07 a.m., program sell orders on the KOSDAQ market were suspended for 5 minutes due to fluctuations in the KOSDAQ 150 futures price and the KOSDAQ 150 index.

A KOSPI sell sidecar is triggered when the KOSPI 200 futures index falls by 5% or more and persists for one minute. A KOSDAQ sell sidecar is triggered when the KOSDAQ 150 futures price falls by 6% or more compared to the base price and the KOSDAQ 150 index falls by 3% or more compared to the final figure of the previous trading day, with both conditions persisting simultaneously for one minute.

Meanwhile, as trading has resumed following the lifting of the circuit breakers, the KOSPI is currently down 8.17% from the previous session at 5,531.56, and the KOSDAQ index is down 8.38% at 646.69.

Samsung Electronics is trading down 7.95% at 202,500 won, and SK Hynix is plunging 12.97% at 1,349,000 won.

(Photo: Yonhap News)