SEOUL, Oct. 15 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's bourse operator on Thursday activated a circuit breaker for the benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) on an extended sell-off in tech shares.
Trading of KOSPI-listed shares was halted for 20 minutes from 12:38 p.m., as the index plunged more than 8 percent from the previous session's close.
The benchmark index came under heavy selling pressure as investors sold off semiconductor shares on skepticism about the sustainability of artificial intelligence (AI) trade and hotter-than-expected inflation data in the United States.
It marked the ninth time this year that the KRX has activated a circuit breaker.
fairydust@yna.co.kr
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