New Delhi, July 8 (IANS) South Korea’s bourse operator on Wednesday activated a sell-side sidecar for the benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) after the index tumbled sharply.

Program trading for the KOSPI was suspended for five minutes at around 1:31 p.m., according to the Korea Exchange (KRX).

The KOSPI came under heavy selling pressure as investors offloaded technology and other large-cap stocks as they reassess the next phase of artificial intelligence (AI) trade.

Foreigners and individuals sold a combined 784 billion won (US$519 million) worth of stocks as of 1:40 p.m., exceeding institutional buying worth 767.9 billion won, report Yonhap News Agency.

The markets opened lower tracking overnight losses on Wall Street as investors reassessed the next phase of AI trade.

After opening 2.7 per cent lower, the benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) pared losses to trade down 108.18 points or 1.41 per cent, at 7,548.13 as of 9:15 am.

Overnight, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.25 percent, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite declined 1.16 percent.

Local technology shares extended their losses, weighing on the benchmark index.

Investors are now focusing on whether rising capital spending, intensifying competition and expanding production capacity will generate the earnings growth needed to justify elevated valuations of technology companies.

Tech stocks led the declines.

Market bellwether Samsung Electronics fell 1.69 percent, while chip giant SK hynix declined 0.95 percent.

Top carmaker Hyundai Motor dropped 3.2 percent, and shipping firm Hanwha Ocean plunged 5.46 percent.

Among gainers, home appliance maker LG Electronics rose 1.06 percent, and LG Display climbed 5.33 percent.

The Korean won was trading at 1,518.65 won against the U.S. dollar as of 9:15 a.m., down 2.85 won from the previous session.

–IANS

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