SEOUL, Nov. 6 (Xinhua) -- South Korean stocks plunged over 8 percent amid tech sell-offs Friday, activating a circuit breaker on the main KOSPI market.
The benchmark KOSPI dropped 460.33 points, or 8.55 percent, to trade at 4,923.47 at 9:08 a.m. local time, while the tech-heavy KOSDAQ plummeted 46.04 points, or 6.79 percent, to 632.37.
The Korea Exchange triggered the trading halt on the KOSPI market about three minutes after the market opening as the main index collapsed below the psychologically important 5,000-point threshold for the first time in around nine months since Feb. 6.
The trading halt, known as a circuit breaker, was issued to suspend all trading on the main board for 20 minutes.
Shortly after trading resumed, a sell sidecar order was also issued at 9:34 a.m. to curb program trading on the KOSPI market.
The market meltdown was affected by a tech rout in the U.S. stock market overnight that was stoked by fears of new regulatory pressure on artificial intelligence (AI) data centers following the U.S. midterm elections.
Right after the circuit breaker was triggered, memory chip heavyweights Samsung Electronics and SK hynix tumbled 9.98 percent and 11.71 percent each. ■