The KOSPI plunged more than 5% intraday, sliding below the 7,100 level. As military tensions between the United States and Iran flared up again and foreigners and institutions sold in tandem, a sell-sidecar was triggered on the main board.
On the 13th, the Korea Exchange (KRX) said it triggered a sell-sidecar at 10:34 a.m. on the main board to halt the effectiveness of program sell quotes for five minutes.
A sell-sidecar is a market stabilization device that is triggered when the KOSPI 200 futures price falls 5% or more from the reference price for at least one minute.
At the time of activation, KOSPI 200 futures were at 1,142.16, down 5.23% from the reference price (1,205.30).
As of 11 a.m. that day, the KOSPI index fell 411.61 points (5.51%) from the previous trading day to 7,064.33, breaking below the 7,100 level intraday.
Large-cap stocks also plunged across the board. SK hynix, which succeeded in its debut trading on the Nasdaq in the United States, fell more than 10% as profit-taking poured in, surrendering the 2 million won level intraday. Samsung Electronics also gave up all of its early gains and was down more than 6%.
Samsung Electro-Mechanics and SK Square, classified as stocks related to Samsung Electronics and SK hynix, also widened losses, falling more than 14% and 12%, respectively.
On the supply-demand side, foreigners and institutions led the index lower. Individuals were net buyers of 1.19 trillion won, but foreigners and institutions were net sellers of 630 billion won and 587 billion won, respectively, dragging the index down.
Since the start of the year, Korea's stock market has remained highly volatile. Through that day, there had been 35 sidecar activations on the main board—18 buy-sidecars and 17 sell-sidecars. That far exceeds last year's full-year total (three) and has already surpassed the annual record during the 2008 global financial crisis (26).