By Kwanwoo Jun
South Korea's stock-market regulator briefly halted trading on the main exchange on Friday after local shares slumped following Wall Street's overnight retreat.
The benchmark Kospi opened 2.9% lower at 5013.15 and extended its losses in morning trade.
The trading curb, designed to limit excessive market moves, was triggered by the Kospi 200 Futures index's fall of more than 5%, the Korea Exchange said.
The regulator activated the "sidecar" to suspend trading on the Kospi for five minutes from 9:06 am local time. Trading has now resumed. The benchmark index was last down 4.0% at 4956.81.
Large-cap semiconductor stocks were among the top decliners, with index heavyweight Samsung Electronics down 3.8% and Nvidia supplier SK Hynix 4.5% lower.
Carmakers Hyundai Motor and its sibling Kia plunged 5.9% and 3.3%, respectively.
Write to Kwanwoo Jun at kwanwoo.jun@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
02-05-26 2006ET
