Korea's bourse operator on Wednesday activated a sell-side sidecar for the benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) after the index tumbled sharply.
Program trading for the KOSPI was suspended for five minutes at around 1:31 p.m., according to the Korea Exchange (KRX).
The KOSPI came under heavy selling pressure as investors offloaded technology and other large-cap stocks as they reassess the next phase of artificial intelligence (AI) trade.
Foreigners and individuals sold a combined 784 billion won ($519 million) worth of stocks as of 1:40 p.m., exceeding institutional buying worth 767.9 billion won.
After opening 2.7 percent lower, the KOSPI fell as low as 7,222.60 during the session.