The Kospi plummeted more than 4% today (November 5) due to the decline of the two major semiconductor heavyweights, triggering a "sell sidecar" on the main bourse.

According to the Korea Exchange, program sell orders on the main Kospi market were suspended for five minutes starting at 10:16:19 a.m. today due to fluctuations in the Kospi 200 futures index.

At the time of activation, the Kospi 200 futures index stood at 843.96, down 46.48 points (5.21%) from the previous trading day's close.

A sell sidecar on the Kospi market is triggered when the Kospi 200 futures index drops by 5% or more and the condition persists for one minute.

This marks the first time a sell sidecar has been triggered on the Kospi market in about a week since October 30.

As of 10:24 a.m., the Kospi was down 4.73% from yesterday at 5,414.82.

The Kosdaq index was also plunging by 4.57% to 682.30.

Major domestic bellwethers Samsung Electronics (-6.65%) and SK Hynix (-8.88%), which opened down 2% and 5% respectively, are widening their losses.

This downturn is attributed to growing concerns over tightened regulations on the construction of artificial intelligence (AI) data centers following the U.S. Democratic Party's landslide victory in the midterm elections (blue wave).

(Photo: Yonhap News)