Circuit breakers halt Kospi, Kosdaq for 2nd straight day as benchmark drops below 6,000

Trading on the Kospi and Kosdaq was halted for 20 minutes Wednesday, marking a second straight day of marketwide circuit breakers and a first for back-to-back Kospi stoppages.

Published Modified
A screen in Hana Bank's trading room in central Seoul shows the Kospi at 5,657.17 points on July 29.

Trading on the Kospi and the Kosdaq was halted for 20 minutes on Wednesday, the second consecutive day the circuit breakers were triggered. 

A circuit breaker was activated for the tech-heavy Kosdaq at 12:19 p.m. after the index fell 8 percent from the previous session's close. 

It is the first time the benchmark has triggered circuit breakers on back-to-back sessions.

The Kospi followed within minutes. 

The Kospi opened 1.09 percent higher at 6,809.11 but broke below the 6,000 line, trading at 5,535.53 as of 12:47 p.m. 


BY CHO YONG-JUN [[email protected]]