The KOSPI plummeted by over 5% on October 13, managing to narrowly defend the psychological 6,000 threshold by the end of the session.
According to the Korea Exchange, the index closed down 348.89 points, or 5.46%, at 6,035.35, heavily dragged down by a sharp sell-off in major semiconductor stocks. This marked the highest daily decline rate since August 19, when the index fell 5.80%.
The index opened 198.16 points (3.10%) lower at 6,186.08 and saw its losses widen, briefly plunging below the 6,000 mark. It dropped as low as 5,911.11 (-7.41%) during intraday trading before recovering above 6,000 in the late afternoon session.
Due to the aggressive market slump, a temporary suspension of program sell-orders (sell sidecar) was triggered on the KOSPI market during the early trading session. This marked the first occurrence of a sell sidecar in the KOSPI market in approximately two months, following a similar event in August.
Domestic semiconductor giants Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix suffered steep plunges across the board.
Samsung Electronics closed down 7.39% at 232,000 won, while SK Hynix finished the day 10.09% lower at 1,443,000 won. Both stocks started the session with a moderate 4% decline, but their downward momentum more than doubled as the day progressed.
Meanwhile, the tech-heavy KOSDAQ index fell 12.16 points (1.43%) to close at 837.03.
