"Retail Investors Can't Hold On" Sell Sidecars, Then Circuit Breakers ... Domestic Stocks Plunge for a Second Day

[Financial News] Domestic stocks plunged for a second straight day, and a circuit breaker mechanism was triggered again on the 29th. Among individual investors, reactions such as "We can't hold on" and "Let's cut our losses" were circulating.

According to the Korea Exchange, the KOSPI opened at 6,089.11 on the day, up 65.45 points, or 1.09%, from the previous session. The early gains did not last long, and the index quickly turned lower. It then fell through the 6,000 level, followed by the 5,800 and 5,700 marks.

Sell sidecars were also triggered one after another in both markets. At 10:55 a.m., a sell sidecar was first activated on the Korea Exchange Main Board, and at 10:56 a.m., the same measure was taken on the KOSDAQ. The move came after sell sidecars were triggered in both the KOSPI and KOSDAQ markets the previous day, extending the streak to a second day.

Even with market-stabilizing measures in place, the decline did not stop. As the KOSPI fell as much as 8.17% from the previous session to 5,531.576, the circuit breaker mechanism was triggered.
The circuit breaker mechanism is activated when the index remains more than 8% below the previous day's closing price for one minute. Once triggered, trading in the cash market is suspended for 20 minutes.
The circuit breaker mechanism was also triggered again in the KOSDAQ, following the previous day. The Korea Exchange announced at 12:19 p.m. on the 29th that it had activated the circuit breaker mechanism in the KOSDAQ market.

Meanwhile, semiconductor-related stocks also weakened on the New York stock market earlier. The NASDAQ Composite Index, which is centered on technology stocks, closed down 0.22% from the previous session.
By stock, semiconductor-related names posted steep losses, including Micron (-8.85%), Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (AMD) (-8.15%), Intel (-5.86%), Qualcomm (-4.21%), and Western Digital Corporation (WDC) (-6.91%).
The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index fell 4.49% on the day, marking its fourth straight session of declines. SK hynix American Depositary Receipt also dropped 8.98%. After three consecutive sessions of sharp losses, SK hynix American Depositary Receipt is now about 13% below its offering price of $149.

[email protected] Han Seung-gon Reporter