Seoul:South Korea's bourse operator activated a sell-side sidecar for the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) on Friday due to a significant drop in the stock index.
According to Yonhap News Agency, program trading for KOSPI-listed shares was suspended for five minutes at 1004 a.m., as reported by the Korea Exchange (KRX). This action was taken after the KOSPI fell sharply following its opening at 2.99 percent lower.
The KOSPI experienced a decline of 277.75 points, or 4.68 percent, reaching 5,661.7 by 1006 a.m. The downward trend was attributed to renewed concerns about the sustainability of the artificial intelligence (AI) boom, which negatively affected investor sentiment after overnight losses on Wall Street.
Wall Street shares had retreated overnight, with Alphabet, Google's parent company, plunging more than 12 percent after its third-quarter revenue fell short of market expectations. The sell-side sidecar was triggered when the KOSPI 200 Futures Index experienced a fall of 5 percent or more for at least one minute.