Buy-side sidecar activated on Kospi after sharp rise

The Korea Exchange activated a buy-side sidecar for the benchmark Kospi as the stock index rose sharply just minutes into trading on Friday morning, fueled by tech gains.

Program trading for the Kospi-listed shares was suspended for five minutes at 9:06 a.m. soon after the market opened, according to the Korea Exchange.

A buy-side sidecar is triggered when the Kospi 200 Futures index rises 5 percent or more for at least one minute.

The Korean bourse had added 64.23 points, or 1.15 percent, to 5,657.79 at the opening bell. Then 7 minutes after, the index shot up 11.05 percent as of 9:07 a.m.

Overnight, Wall Street closed higher as Microsoft jumped a record 15 percent after exceeding expectations for current-quarter sales and cloud growth in its second-quarter report, easing fears about massive spending on artificial intelligence infrastructure.

The S&P 500 climbed 1.66 percent and the Nasdaq gained 2.78 percent, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.19 percent. The PHLX chip index, a gauge of U.S. semiconductor giants, surged 8.2 percent.

Market bellwether Samsung Electronics skyrocketed 18.84 percent to trade at 246,000 won ($172) around 9:20 a.m., while rival chip giant SK hynix also soared 21.94 percent to trade at 1,617,000 won.

BY YOON SO-YEON, YONHAP [[email protected]]