KOSPI Plunges Over 8%, Triggering Circuit Breakers and Sidecars

The KOSPI has triggered a circuit breaker, temporarily halting trading after plunging more than 8% during intraday trading.

The Korea Exchange suspended all trading on the KOSPI market for 20 minutes, starting at 12:10:12 PM today (June 26).

This measure was taken after the KOSPI fell by more than 8% from yesterday's closing price for one consecutive minute, meeting the requirements for a circuit breaker.

As a result, trading for all stocks listed on the KOSPI market was temporarily halted.

Trading in stock-related futures and options markets was also suspended.

At the time the circuit breaker was triggered, the KOSPI stood at 8,198.33, down 731.97 points, or 8.19%, from yesterday.

Earlier, at approximately 11:12:12 AM, a sell-sidecar was also triggered as the KOSPI 200 futures index fell by more than 5%.

In the KOSPI market, individual investors net bought 3.7653 trillion won worth of shares.

Conversely, foreign investors and institutions net sold 3.1115 trillion won and 732 billion won, respectively.

The "semiconductor two-top" stocks, Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, both plummeted by more than 9%.

Samsung Electronics fell 9.12%, while SK Hynix dropped 9.43%.

Han Ji-young, an analyst at Kiwoom Securities, analyzed that concerns over declining demand for memory semiconductors and the burden from the index's sharp rebound over the past two trading sessions are dragging down the market.

She explained that, in particular, only semiconductor stocks had led the rally during the KOSPI's sharp rebound over the past two days.

She added that as profit-taking selling emerged from these stocks, it also led to an outflow of passive funds that included semiconductor stocks.

However, Han stated, "Concerns over a decline in memory demand are excessive."

She continued, "The concentration on semiconductors and the resulting increase in supply and demand volatility explain most of today's sharp decline."

At the same time, the KOSDAQ index was at 843.62, down 44.19 points, or 4.98%, from yesterday.
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.