As of 11:20 a.m., the KOSPI had clawed back to 5,605.10, down 6.75 percent after retreating to 5,534.24 earlier in the session.
Chip bellwethers buckled under the selling pressure. SK hynix tumbled about 10 percent and Samsung Electronics fell roughly 8 percent. Foreign investors had already sold a net 2.45 trillion won in main-board shares.
The sharp declines triggered temporary curbs on program selling in both markets. A sell-side “sidecar” was activated on the main board for the second time in three sessions, following Tuesday’s intraday plunge of more than 7 percent. The mechanism suspends program sell orders for five minutes when KOSPI 200 futures fall at least 5 percent and remain at that level for one minute.
The KOSDAQ followed at 9:12 a.m., when its futures and underlying index breached their respective thresholds. KOSDAQ 150 futures were down 6.25 percent and the cash index had fallen 6.52 percent at the time. The KOSDAQ sidecar is triggered when futures fall at least 6 percent and the underlying index drops at least 3 percent simultaneously for one minute.
The renewed selloff also sent South Korea’s market “fear gauge” above 50. The VKOSPI stood at 53.84 as of 10:49 a.m., up 8.93 points, or 19.88 percent, from Wednesday’s close. It touched 55.64 earlier, its highest intraday reading since Aug. 26.
The index measures expected volatility over the next 30 days based on KOSPI 200 options prices. Its level was more than double its long-term average of around 20 since 2010.
The gauge had climbed from 36.81 on Oct. 8 to 48.53 on Tuesday before easing to 44.91 on Wednesday. Thursday’s renewed surge erased that brief respite.
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