South Korea's currency and stock market plunged Monday morning, amid fears of a global trade war triggered by US President Donald Trump's tariff plans and China's retaliatory measures.
The Korean won opened at 1,462.0 won per dollar, down 27.9 won from the previous session, and had weakened further to 1,468.65 won as of 10 a.m.
The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index lost 103.56 points, or 4.2 percent, to 2,361.86 in the first 15 minutes of trading.
With the steep drop, the bourse operator issued a sidecar order at 9:12 a.m., halting program purchasing for five minutes, after the Kospi 200 index shed over 5 percent for more than 1 minute.
It was the first sidecar order for program buying since August 2024.
The won and local shares' decline came as Trump pledged to impose "reciprocal" tariffs on imports from most of the world, including 25 percent duties on South Korean goods, which are set to take effect on Wednesday. He also implemented a 10 percent "baseline" tariff on all imports starting Saturday.
Fears of a global recession gripped global markets after China announced it would impose a 34 percent tariff on US goods, matching the tariffs proposed by President Trump.
Wall Street saw its worst week since the COVID-19 pandemic, with the S&P 500 plunging 6 percent Friday, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average plummeted 5.5 percent and the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite lost 5.8 percent. (Yonhap and news reports)
