The KOSPI fell more than 3 percent in early trade on May 18, triggering a sell sidecar on the main board market.
Korea Exchange disclosed that it activated a temporary halt on program trading sell orders, known as a sell sidecar, at 9:19:22 a.m.
A sell sidecar is designed to ease the spillover of a sharp fall in the futures market into the spot market. It triggers when KOSPI 200 futures fall at least 5 percent for 1 minute, and program sell orders are suspended for 5 minutes.
The KOSPI was down 246.71 points, or 3.29 percent, at 7,246.47 as of 9:20 a.m., compared with the previous session.
The move is seen as the market safety mechanism kicking in as selling pressure expanded early in the session amid increased volatility after the KOSPI rose sharply over a short period, including breaking above 8,000 recently.
Sangyeop Oh
yub@d-today.co.kr