KOSPI triggers circuit breaker after sharp sell-off in electronics and chip stocks, falls below 6,800 [Fn afternoon market report]

[Financial News] KOSPI triggered a circuit breaker after being dragged down by a sharp drop in Samsung Electronics and SK hynix. It was the seventh circuit breaker this year, and the index fell below the 6,900 level during trading.
The Korea Exchange announced at 1:28 p.m. on the 13th that it would activate a level-1 circuit breaker, suspending trading on the Korea Exchange Main Board for 20 minutes after KOSPI had fallen more than 8% from the previous trading day for more than one minute.
At the time the circuit breaker was triggered, KOSPI stood at 6,871.20, down 604.74 points, or 8.08%, from the previous session.
The steep declines in large-cap semiconductor stocks led the market's fall on the day. As of 1:57 p.m., Samsung Electronics was trading at 258,250 won, down 9.39% from the previous session, while SK hynix was trading at 1,887,000 won, down 13.44%.
On the Korea Exchange Main Board, individual investors were net buyers of 329.53 billion won, while foreign investors and institutions were net sellers of 260.64 billion won and 74.83 billion won, respectively.
By sector, only two industries were in positive territory: chemicals, up 0.31%, and textiles and apparel, up 0.30%. Electrical and electronics fell 10.68%, manufacturing dropped 8.92%, and construction declined 5.805.
Among the largest market-cap stocks, LG Energy Solution rose 1.53%, KB Financial Group gained 0.98%, and Celltrion advanced 0.91%. Samsung Electro-Mechanics fell 15.09%, SK Square dropped 13.27%, and SK Group lost 9.74%.
As of 1:57 p.m., KOSDAQ (Korea Securities Dealers Automated Quotations) was trading at 802.07, down 35.36 points, or 4.22%, from the previous session. Individuals and institutions were net buyers of 240.3 billion won and 166.2 billion won, respectively, while foreign investors were net sellers of 404.4 billion won.
Kim Seok-hwan, a researcher at Mirae Asset Securities, explained, "As expectations for SK hynix's American Depositary Receipt (ADR) listing, which had recently driven share prices higher, became a reality, profit-taking pressure emerged as the event faded." He added, "This appears to be due to concerns that second-quarter earnings may fall short of elevated market expectations."
  

koreanbae@fnnews.com Bae Han-geul Reporter