KOSPI Plummets Over 5% Intraday... Intraday Sidecar Activated

[Asia Economy Reporter Minji Lee] The KOSPI plunged by more than 5% intraday on the 12th, triggering a sidecar. It is believed that investor sentiment sharply deteriorated following the World Health Organization (WHO) declaring the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) a pandemic.

The KOSPI started lower in the 1880s on the 12th. The U.S. stock market plunged following the World Health Organization (WHO)'s declaration of the COVID-19 pandemic, negatively impacting the domestic stock market. On this day, the KOSPI index is displayed on the electronic board in the dealing room of Hana Bank in Jung-gu, Seoul. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

At 1:23 PM that day, the KOSPI was at 1827.43, down 4.24% (80.84 points) from the previous session.

In the current securities market, foreigners sold a net 605 billion KRW, while institutions and individuals bought 171.7 billion KRW and 386.8 billion KRW worth of stocks, respectively.

The Korea Exchange activated the sidecar in the securities market at around 1:10 PM that day. A 'sidecar' is a measure that suspends program trading orders in the stock market for five minutes if the futures price fluctuates by more than 5% compared to the previous day's closing price and this price movement persists for one minute.

Among the current top market capitalization stocks, Samsung Electronics is trading at 50,600 KRW, down 2.88% from the previous session. SK Hynix (-3.51%), Samsung Biologics (-2.48%), and Naver (-2.94%) are also on a downward trend.

At the same time, the KOSDAQ index stood at 563.29, down 5.43% (32.32 points) from the previous session. In the KOSDAQ market, individuals sold stocks worth 53.9 billion KRW, while foreigners and institutions bought 50.2 billion KRW and 0.5 billion KRW worth of stocks, respectively.