KOSPI and KOSDAQ Circuit Breakers Activated Amid Market Crash

- Triggering Event: The South Korean stock markets experienced a massive crash due to the geopolitical shockwaves from the U.S. and Israel's airstrikes on Iran. - Emergency Market Halts: As both the KOSPI and KOSDAQ indices plummeted more than 8%, authorities activated "Circuit Breakers," halting all trading for 20 minutes. This marks the first circuit breaker activation in 1 year and 7 months since August 2024. Earlier in the session, "Sell Sidecars" (a 5-minute suspension of program selling) were also triggered for both markets. - Investor Behavior: The market collapse was heavily driven by "panic selling" from foreign investors, who net-sold approximately 1.17 trillion KRW. In contrast, retail and institutional investors attempted to defend the indices by net-buying 638.8 billion KRW and 461.3 billion KRW, respectively. - Major Stock Declines: Key blue-chip stocks suffered severe drops during the crash. Samsung Electronics fell by 7.23%, SK Hynix by 5.54%, Hyundai Motor by 10.92%, and Hanwha Aerospace by 12.15%. Closing Figures: Ultimately, the KOSPI closed at 5,791.91 (down 7.24%), while the KOSDAQ closed at 1,137.70 (down 4.62%).