[DigitalToday reporter Sang-yeop Oh (오상엽)] South Korean shares are plunging in early trading as concerns about a clash between the United States and Iran resurface. The KOSPI and Kosdaq are each down about 5 percent, and the won-dollar exchange rate has climbed to the 1,490 won range.

As of 9:17 a.m. on March 9, the KOSPI is down 333.92 points, or 5.98 percent, from the previous session at 5,250.95. The index opened sharply lower at 5,265.37 and tried to rebound to as high as 5,327.42, but slid again to as low as 5,211.69 and is trading in the low 5,200s.

In terms of flows, retail investors are net buyers of 606.3 billion won in the KOSPI market, while foreigners and institutions are net sellers of 367.3 billion won and 255.0 billion won, respectively.

Program trading net selling reached 272.1 billion won early on, prompting the Korea Exchange to trigger a sell sidecar at 9:06 a.m.

The nearest-month KOSPI200 futures contract fell 6.49 percent from the previous close to 773.90 points, meeting the requirement of a drop of at least 5 percent sustained for 1 minute. It halted the effectiveness of program trading sell quotes for 5 minutes. This was the seventh trigger this year and the fifth sell sidecar.

Most of the top KOSPI stocks by market capitalisation are falling sharply, with the exception of Hanwha Aerospace.

Samsung Electronics fell 14,800 won, or 7.86 percent, from the previous session to 173,400 won. SK Hynix fell 7.90 percent, Hyundai Motor 9.04 percent, LG Energy Solution 4.37 percent, Samsung Biologics 6.02 percent, SK Square 8.50 percent, Doosan Enerbility 1.43 percent and Kia 8.02 percent.

Hanwha Aerospace rose 2.09 percent and was the only gainer among the top market-cap stocks.

The Kosdaq was also down 57.49 points, or 4.98 percent, from the previous session at 1,097.18. In the Kosdaq market, retail investors are net sellers of 64.1 billion won, while foreigners and institutions are net buyers of 48.1 billion won and 41.3 billion won, respectively.

In the Seoul foreign exchange market, the won-dollar exchange rate was trading at 1,492.10 won, up 7.10 won, or 0.48 percent, from the previous session.