Stocks plunge as circuit breakers hit Kospi, Kosdaq for first time in over two months

Stocks plunged on Thursday, triggering first-level circuit breakers on the Kospi and Kosdaq as the two indexes fell more than 8 percent, with trading halted for 20 minutes each.

The Korea Exchange activated a first-level circuit breaker on the Kospi at 12:38 p.m. The index had fallen 480.76 points, or 8 percent, from the previous session to 5,528.05 at the time of activation.

A circuit breaker on the Kosdaq was triggered at 12:23 p.m., when the index dropped 66.00 points, or 8.01 percent, to 757.88.

A first-level circuit breaker is triggered on either the Kospi or Kosdaq when the index falls at least 8 percent from the previous session's close and remains at or below that level for one minute.

When a circuit breaker is activated, all trading is suspended for 20 minutes. During the suspension, new orders are also halted; only order cancellations are allowed. Trading then resumes through a 10-minute single-price auction before returning to normal.

Thursday marked the first time in about two and a half months, since July 29, that first-level circuit breakers were triggered on both the Kospi and Kosdaq on the same day.

Earlier in the session, sell-side trading curbs known as sidecars were also activated on both indexes in succession.

BY HAN YOUNG-HYE [[email protected]]