Manila:A circuit breaker was activated on Thursday by South Korea's bourse operator for the benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) following a significant sell-off in technology shares.

According to Yonhap News Agency, trading of KOSPI-listed shares was suspended for 20 minutes starting at 1238 p.m. after the index dropped more than 8 percent compared to the previous session's close.

The heavy selling pressure on the benchmark index was largely driven by investors offloading semiconductor stocks due to concerns over the sustainability of artificial intelligence (AI) trade and higher-than-expected inflation data from the United States. Notably, this marks the ninth instance this year where the Korea Exchange (KRX) has implemented a circuit breaker.