KOSPI falls 5.46% as chip sell-off prompts program sell-order suspension
South Korean shares extended their losing streak to five sessions, while a sharp drop in futures prompted a five-minute suspension of program sell orders.
South Korea’s KOSPI fell 5.46% in Seoul on Tuesday, Oct. 13, closing at 6,035.35 as a semiconductor-led sell-off extended the index’s losing streak to five sessions. Foreign investors sold a net 4.51 trillion won in shares, according to Yonhap News Agency.
Why program sell orders were suspended
The Korea Exchange suspended program sell orders on the main board for five minutes at 9:47:58 a.m. local time, Seoul Economic Daily reported. KOSPI 200 futures were down 5.08% when the measure took effect. The sell-side sidecar is triggered when the futures decline by at least 5% for one minute; the newspaper said this was the first such KOSPI sidecar since Aug. 19.
Yonhap linked the decline to renewed investor worries about artificial intelligence and inflation, including reports of technological progress by Chinese memory-chip maker ChangXin Memory Technologies. Seoul Economic Daily also reported concern about expanded global memory supply following the company’s plan to mass-produce next-generation DRAM. The reports do not establish how much each concern contributed to the fall.
Sources and context
- Seoul shares dip over 5 pct on tech sell-off on renewed AI, inflation woesYonhap News Agency
- Korea's KOSPI Plunges 5% Intraday, Triggering Sell SidecarSeoul Economic Daily
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