Trading of KOSPI stocks suspended amid tech sell-off

The Korea's bourse operator activated a circuit breaker for the benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) on Friday. Trading of KOSPI-listed shares was halted for 20 minutes starting at 9:03 after the index plunged more than 8 percent from the previous session's close.

According to The Korea Times, the index faced heavy selling pressure following a tech rout on Wall Street. This downturn was triggered by concerns that a sweeping victory for Democrats in the U.S. midterms could slow the pace of artificial intelligence (AI) data center construction. This event marks the tenth time the KRX has activated a circuit breaker this year.

Brief written by urgent.news from The Korea Times, The Korea Times — 2 reports on this story. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.