Seoul: South Korea's bourse operator on Wednesday activated a buy-side sidecar for the benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) as the stock index rose sharply, fueled by tech gains.

According to Yonhap News Agency, program trading for the KOSPI-listed shares was suspended for five minutes at 9:06 a.m. soon after the market opened. This suspension came in response to the KOSPI's significant rise in the early trading hours.

After opening over 5 percent higher, the KOSPI rose 6.01 percent to reach 7,153.42 points by 9:11 a.m. The activation of a buy-side sidecar is triggered when the KOSPI 200 Futures index increases by 5 percent or more for at least one minute, halting program trading to stabilize the market temporarily.