Korean Stocks Plunge 8%, Triggering 6th Circuit Breaker This Year

SEOUL (CNA) - South Korean stocks plunged on Tuesday, falling as much as 8% at one point due to a sharp decline in technology heavyweights. The Korea Exchange (KRX) was forced to activate its circuit breaker mechanism for the sixth time this year.

According to Yonhap News Agency, the KRX initiated the circuit breaker at around 1:51 PM local time, when the benchmark KOSPI index had fallen more than 8% from its previous day's closing price. Trading of listed stocks was suspended for 20 minutes after the activation.

The Korean stock market faced heavy selling pressure as investors took profits after Samsung Electronics announced its preliminary second-quarter earnings, leading to massive sell-offs in large-cap technology stocks, coupled with significant foreign selling.

The KOSPI opened down 1.6% and continued to decline throughout the day, a stark contrast to the performance of US stocks at the close of trading this morning. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.29%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite gained 1.12%.

Despite Samsung Electronics forecasting operating profit for April-June at 89.4 trillion won (approximately NT$1.8 trillion), exceeding market expectations, technology stocks still saw a sharp decline amid profit-taking after the positive news.

Technology stocks were the hardest hit in today's market downturn, with Samsung and SK Hynix both falling more than 10% at their intraday lows. Shares of auto giant Hyundai Motor and defense company Hanwha Aerospace also experienced significant drops.

Hanwha Ocean's stock price plummeted by more than 20% at one point, as it lost out to German shipbuilder Thyssenkrupp Marine Systems (TKMS) in a multi-billion dollar submarine procurement deal in Canada today. (Compiled by Chen Yi-wei) 0707

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