KOSPI’s 8.55% Drop Triggers 20-Minute Trading Halt in South Korea

Key Facts

South Korea’s KOSPI opened the November 6 session down 8.55%, triggering a 20-minute trading halt, according to Investing.com data. The decline followed steep losses in chipmakers, extending a sell-off in U.S. technology stocks during the previous session. Market data showed the index fell to its lowest level in nine months. The session’s losses also put it at risk of erasing more than 19% from its intraday peak in late October. The automatic halt underscored how quickly pressure can spread from global technology stocks to the Korean market, where semiconductor companies were at the center of the sell-off.

Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix led the decline in the Korean market, with the former falling about 10% and the latter dropping 11.7% during the sell-off, according to Investing.com. The losses at the two companies mattered in the session because the sell-off focused on chip stocks, a sector market sources linked to pressure on companies building AI data centers. Their moves came amid a broader decline that pushed the index to a level not seen in nine months. SK Hynix’s loss was greater than Samsung Electronics’ decline in the session. The two stocks’ simultaneous falls showed the pressure extending to the two largest names in Korea’s memory sector during the sell-off.

The Korean decline followed broad losses in U.S. technology stocks during Thursday’s session, November 5. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index fell 12.3%, while the Nasdaq Composite declined 5.5%, according to Investing.com. The Associated Press said the sell-off was led by shares linked to the construction of AI data centers. The S&P 500 also ended the session down 4.4%, the news agency reported. The U.S. session’s losses provide direct context for Korean chip stocks’ moves the following day, after technology and semiconductor shares came under heavy pressure on Wall Street.

The KOSPI had closed at 5,383.8 points on November 5, according to EL7 data, before the following session’s decline. That compares with the index opening down 8.55% on November 6, according to Investing.com, a rapid shift from the previous session’s close to a sharp drop at the start of trading. The opening decline triggered a 20-minute trading halt. Later in the session, continued losses put the index at its lowest level in nine months. That day’s losses also put the index at risk of erasing more than 19% from its intraday peak in late October.