S. Korea halts small-cap trading after dropping 8 pct
Xinhua, February 12, 2016 Adjust font size:
Trading in small-cap stocks was halted for 20 minutes on Friday after the benchmark Kosdaq index dropped more than 8 percent.
The circuit breaker was issued at about 11:50 a.m. local time (0250 GMT) as the Kosdaq index declined more than 8 percent. The small-cap gauge was quoted at 594.75 at noon, down 52.94 points, or 8.17 percent, from Thursday's close.
The circuit breaker is issued when the small-cap gauge drops sharply to mitigate shocks from abrupt stock price plunge. When it is issued, stock trading is suspended for 20 minutes. A loss of 15 percent halts trading for 20 minutes more, and a fall of 20 percent suspends trading for the rest of the day.
It marked the seventh time since the circuit breaker was introduced in October 2001 that the Kosdaq trading is halted for 20 minutes. The latest issuance happened four and a half years ago.
Celltrion, the biggest stock in the small-cap market, tumbled 12.8 percent, leading the market decline. Other leading small-cap shares shrank in the range of 4-14 percent.
The benchmark Kospi index slid over 2 percent on growing concerns over the global stock market rout and rising geopolitical risks on the Korean Peninsula caused by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea's (DPRK) rocket launch and nuclear test. Enditem