SEOUL, March 9 (Xinhua) -- South Korean stocks on Monday suffered a massive sell-off amid escalating Middle East conflict and surging global oil prices.
The benchmark KOSPI dived 333.00 points, or 5.96 percent, to close at 5,251.87, and the smaller KOSDAQ plunged 52.39 points, or 4.54 percent, to finish at 1,102.28.
The KOSPI opened 5.72 percent lower and plummeted over 8 percent during the trading, triggering a circuit breaker in the KOSPI market in the morning session.
The level 1 circuit breaker is activated when the index drops more than 8 percent for at least 1 minute to suspend trading for 20 minutes.
After the 20-minute suspension, trading resumes following a 10-minute single-price auction period.
In the KOSDAQ market, a sell-sidecar was issued to halt program trading orders for five minutes.
The KOSDAQ sidecar is triggered when the KOSDAQ 150 futures rise or fall by over 6 percent and the KOSDAQ 150 index rises or falls by over 3 percent simultaneously for at least 1 minute.
Foreign and institutional investors dumped shares in a panic as global oil prices neared 120 U.S. dollars per barrel.
The South Korean won versus the U.S. dollar exchange rate finished its daytime session at 1,495.5 won per dollar as of 3:30 p.m. local time (0630 GMT), up 19.1 won from the previous session's daytime close.
It reflected a strong preference for safe-haven assets, such as the greenback, amid rising worry about the prolonged Middle East conflict.
In an emergency meeting to address the impact of the Middle East conflict, South Korean President Lee Jae Myung ordered a swift implementation of the so-called "maximum petroleum price system" to curb the rapid surge in fuel costs at gas stations.
Lee instructed officials to prepare for worst-case scenarios by closely monitoring exchange rates, stock markets and global commodity prices, while directing the use of the 100 trillion-won (66.9 billion U.S. dollars) market stabilization program.
Market bellwether Samsung Electronics and memory chip giant SK Hynix retreated 7.81 percent and 9.52 percent each.
The country's top automaker Hyundai Motor dipped 8.32 percent, and the largest battery maker LG Energy Solution diminished 4.77 percent.
The No. 1 biopharmaceutical contract manufacturer Samsung Biologics fell 3.95 percent, and the leading aerospace and defense company Hanwha Aerospace declined 3.17 percent.
The biggest shipbuilder HD Hyundai Heavy Industries picked up 3.97 percent, but the energy infrastructure leader Doosan Enerbility was down 1.84 percent. ■