SEOUL, July 7 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's bourse operator on Tuesday triggered a circuit breaker on the KOSPI market amid big tech sell-offs.
The benchmark KOSPI plunged 646.85 points, or 8.03 percent, to trade at 7,404.48 as of 1:52 p.m. local time (0452 GMT), while the smaller KOSDAQ tumbled 30.70 points, or 3.62 percent, to 816.37.
The Korea Exchange activated the circuit breaker on the KOSPI market following a bout of panic selling in big tech shares such as Samsung Electronics and SK hynix.
Samsung announced its historic preliminary quarterly operating profit, but the market treated the news as a "done deal," leading to a massive sell-off right after the announcement.
Shares of Samsung Electronics and SK hynix plummeted by over 9 percent and 10 percent each during the afternoon session.
Foreign investors led the panic selling, dumping over 3 trillion won (about 2 billion U.S. dollars) worth of shares in a single day, while retail investors stepped in to buy the dip.
A level 1 circuit breaker was triggered in the KOSPI after the index sustained a loss of over 8 percent for more than one minute.
The circuit breaker is issued in stages when the KOSPI or KOSDAQ dives by 8 percent, 15 percent and 20 percent.
The first two stages halt trading for 20 minutes, followed by a 10-minute single price auction, while the final stage instantly shuts down the market for the day. ■
