Sell-side sidecars were triggered in both the KOSPI and KOSDAQ markets shortly after the opening bell, followed by a circuit breaker on the main market that halted trading for 20 minutes.
As of 10:30 a.m., the KOSPI stood at 6,212.30, down 8.1 percent from the previous session. The index opened at 6,400.27, down 5.26 percent.
Retail investors purchased 1.87 trillion won ($1.27 billion) worth of shares, while foreign investors sold 1.72 trillion won and institutions offloaded 148.2 billion won.
The Korea Exchange activated a circuit breaker on the KOSPI market at 10:13:43 a.m., suspending trading for 20 minutes. It was the eighth circuit breaker triggered on the main market this year and the first since July 13, 10 trading sessions earlier.
Before the trading halt, a sell-side sidecar was triggered at 9:06:02 a.m., suspending program sell orders for five minutes.
Semiconductor shares led the decline. SK hynix tumbled 11 percent to 1,616,000 won, while Samsung Electronics sank 9.5 percent to 230,000 won. Samsung Electro-Mechanics fell 13.9 percent to 1,141,000 won, and Hanmi Semiconductor declined 9.34 percent to 185,400 won.
Other major stocks also fell. SK Telecom plunged 15.3 percent to 82,950 won, Hanwha Ocean dropped 8 percent to 81,700 won, Samsung SDI lost 7.4 percent to 399,000 won, LG Electronics declined 6.7 percent to 160,800 won and Doosan Enerbility fell 6.6 percent to 66,200 won.
Celltrion moved against the broader market, gaining 1.9 percent to 182,100 won.
The selloff followed sharp losses in U.S. semiconductor stocks overnight. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index fell 2.23 percent, while Nvidia dropped 4.99 percent. AMD declined 5.17 percent, Western Digital fell 4.21 percent, Micron Technology lost 2.25 percent and SanDisk plunged 11.02 percent.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.51 percent to 52,210.08, while the S&P 500 edged up 0.02 percent to 7,413.18. The Nasdaq Composite fell 0.18 percent to 24,932.08.
Reports that Chinese companies had developed domestic deep-ultraviolet lithography equipment added to concerns over China’s push for semiconductor self-sufficiency. ChangXin Memory Technologies surged 465 percent in its debut on Shanghai’s STAR Market on Monday.
The KOSDAQ stood at 716.00 at 10:30 a.m., down 6.4 percent. The index opened at 742.13, down 2.97 percent.
Retail investors bought 98.1 billion won worth of KOSDAQ shares, while foreign investors sold 37.6 billion won and institutions offloaded 57.9 billion won.
A sell-side sidecar was triggered on the KOSDAQ market at 9:14:47 a.m., suspending program sell orders for five minutes.
Yas hit the daily lower limit, falling 30 percent to 5,210 won, while Kangstem Biotech plunged 23.5 percent to 1,730 won. KNR Systems jumped 16.2 percent to 16,580 won.
Remedi dropped 16.1 percent to 8,050 won, TSE lost 15.7 percent to 176,200 won, Simtech fell 14.6 percent to 78,800 won and VM declined 14.3 percent to 64,200 won.
Nepes dropped 13.8 percent to 15,490 won, PSK lost 13 percent to 127,100 won and Jusung Engineering fell 12.5 percent to 131,200 won.
The Korean won weakened 0.3 percent to 1,470.6 won against the U.S. dollar.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 4.1 percent to 62,270.80, while China’s Shanghai Composite was trading 0.6 percent lower at 3,837. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 0.4 percent to 25,307.10.
West Texas Intermediate crude fell 0.4 percent to $81.70 a barrel, while Brent crude declined 0.6 percent to $87.40.
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