KOSPI Triggers Third Sidecar in March as Samsung, SK Hynix Plunge 8%

The KOSPI triggered its third program trading sidecar of March as the index plunged over 6% at market open amid Middle East war risks and surging oil prices. U.S. tech stock losses compounded the selling pressure, dragging down domestic semiconductor leaders.

According to the Korea Exchange on the 9th, the KOSPI was trading at 5,229.53, down 354.34 points (6.36%). A sell sidecar was activated at approximately 9:06 a.m. This marks the third sidecar trigger in March alone, coming just three trading days after the previous activation on the 4th. A sell sidecar halts program selling for five minutes when KOSPI 200 futures decline more than 5% for over one minute.

Foreign and institutional investors were offloading 587.8 billion won and 316 billion won respectively in the main bourse, while retail investors were single-handedly supporting the index with 883.4 billion won in net purchases. Individual investors have maintained net buying positions for eight consecutive trading sessions since the 25th of last month.

Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, the nation's top two companies by market capitalization and leading semiconductor stocks, both tumbled sharply. Samsung Electronics fell 14,800 won (7.86%) to 173,400 won, while SK Hynix dropped 74,000 won (8.01%) to 850,000 won.

The decline follows last week's New York market losses, where all three major indices fell on surging international oil prices and weak employment data. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index plunged 3.93% as tech stocks including Nvidia (-3.01%) and Micron (-6.74%) posted steep declines.

"The KOSPI reversed sharply due to armed conflict between the U.S., Israel, and Iran, amplifying downside volatility after the index had shown standout gains among global markets," said Lee Kyung-min, a researcher at Daishin Securities. "Fluctuations are inevitable for the time being depending on Middle East developments and whether the conflict becomes prolonged."

Meanwhile, the KOSDAQ fell 67.00 points (5.80%) to 1,087.67. Retail investors were net buyers of 40.5 billion won, while foreign and institutional investors were net sellers of 21.5 billion won and 43.5 billion won respectively.