"KOSPI turns pale"... Sell-side circuit breaker triggered as index falls to the 8,400 level [fn Afternoon Market]

[Financial News] KOSPI widened its losses in the afternoon of the 23rd and fell to the 8,400 level.
As of 2:20 p.m. that day, KOSPI was trading at 8,436.83, down 677.72 points, or 7.44%, from the previous session. It opened at 9,083.54, down 31.01 points, or 0.34%, from the previous close, and briefly rose to 9,175.45 during the session before turning lower.
At 11:40 a.m., a temporary suspension of program sell orders, or a sell-side circuit breaker, was triggered amid the sharp drop in KOSPI. The sell-side circuit breaker for KOSPI is activated when the KOSPI 200 Futures index falls by more than 5% and stays there for one minute. At the time of activation, the KOSPI 200 Futures index was down 76.06 points, or 5.12%, from the previous close.
On the Korea Exchange Main Board, foreign investors and institutions were net sellers of 448.3 billion won and 233.63 billion won, respectively. Individual investors were the only net buyers, purchasing 676.18 billion won.
Most large-cap stocks were also down. Samsung Electronics (-8.06%), SK hynix (-10.59%), SK Square (-2.54%), Samsung Electro-Mechanics (-9.07%), Hyundai Motor Company (-10.67%), LG Energy Solution (-3.89%), Samsung Life Insurance (-3.66%), and Samsung C&T Corporation (-9.23%) were among the weak performers.
All sectors were also in decline. The steepest losses came in electrical and electronics (-9.22%), manufacturing (-8.50%), medical and precision instruments (-8.45%), construction (-8.32%), transportation equipment and parts (-7.29%), and machinery and equipment (-6.49%).
At the same time, KOSDAQ was trading at 905.67, down 62.73 points, or 6.48%, from the previous session. It opened at 9.76 points, or 1.01%, and then extended its losses.
A sell-side circuit breaker was also triggered on KOSDAQ around 11:37 a.m. The KOSDAQ sell-side circuit breaker is activated when the KOSDAQ 150 Futures price falls by at least 6% from the reference price and the KOSDAQ 150 Index falls by at least 3% from the previous trading day's final level, with both conditions sustained for one minute.
On KOSDAQ, individual investors were selling 228.5 billion won worth of shares. Institutions and foreign investors, meanwhile, were buying 170.9 billion won and 54.6 billion won worth, respectively.

yimsh0214@fnnews.com Lim Sang-hyeok Reporter