South Korea’s benchmark Kospi tumbled over 8 percent in trading Monday, prompting the activation of a circuit breaker, a 20-minute suspension on trading to curb excessive volatility.
The Korea Exchange activated a circuit breaker on the Kospi at around 10:31 a.m., after the index fell more than 8 percent in the course of just over a minute. It was the second activation of a circuit breaker on the main bourse this year.
At the time of the activation, the Kospi stood at 5,132.07 points, shedding 8.11 percent from the previous session.
Though retail investors net bought shares worth 2.98 trillion won ($2 billion), the purchases were not enough to keep the index afloat, as foreign and institutional investors offloaded 1.8 trillion won and 1.23 trillion won, respectively.
Shares of Samsung Electronics fell to 169,300 won, down 10.04 percent, while SK hynix dropped to 817,000 won, losing 11.59 percent.
At the same time, a sell-side sidecar was activated on the tech-heavy Kosdaq. The secondary bourse dropped 7.15 percent to 1,072.06 points.
The Korean won was quoted at 1,496.38 per dollar as of 10:42 a.m., near the psychologically important mark of 1,500 per dollar.
silverstar@heraldcorp.com
