The crash at the opening of Korean markets

Leading semiconductor stocks in South Korea fell sharply on Friday morning. According to The Korea Herald, at 9:14 Samsung Electronics was trading at 181,400 won, down 20,100 won, or 9.98%, from the previous session. At the same time, SK hynix was down 148,000 won, or 11.71%, at 1.116 million won.

The Kospi benchmark opened at 5,263.63 points, 2.2% below the previous close. Losses then widened enough to trigger a 20-minute trading halt just three minutes after the start of the regular session: the first-level safeguard mechanism, the source recalls, is activated when the index remains for at least one minute at a level at least 8% below the previous close.

The causes: Wall Street and the US vote

The decline originated in a strong wave of selling in technology stocks on Wall Street overnight. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index lost 12.25% and the Nasdaq Composite 5.52%, amid concerns over delays in building data centers for artificial intelligence. The source also links the sell-off to the outcome of the US midterm elections.

The Kospi had already fallen 5.28% on Thursday, again according to The Korea Herald, on fears that a Democratic win in the midterms could lead to stricter US regulation of AI data centers. The tech-heavy Kosdaq opened at 654.43 points, down 3.5%, and lost more than 7% in the first half hour of trading.

Pre-opening quotes and points to verify

Losses had been even more marked in pre-opening trading. Samsung Electronics, the market's top stock, fell 13% from the previous close, to 175,300 won per share, before opening at 185,000 won. SK hynix fell as much as 15.3%, to 1,070,000 won, before opening at 1,172,000 won.

The picture that emerges from the material is one of a broad and rapid market move, but some elements remain to be verified: the source does not indicate whether or how much the decline continued after the first morning, nor does it provide indications on the measures market authorities might adopt. Also unavailable in the material are analyst assessments or official reactions from the companies involved.

Source and attribution: this original summary was prepared by AICronaca based on the report by The Korea Herald ↗. The statements are attributed to the source; possible informational limitations: The material is based on a single article from The Korea Herald and on a time window limited to Friday morning; there are no updates on the close, analyst comments, company reactions or details on US regulatory decisions, which remain journalistic hypotheses and not established facts..