Kospi plunges despite Samsung's record earnings

The South Korean benchmark Kospi slumped during intraday trading Tuesday, despite market heavyweight Samsung Electronics posting a record-high quarterly operating profit earlier in the day.

The benchmark index opened 1.64 percent lower at 7,919.20, before extending its losses to below the 7,400 mark, dipping to as low as 7,389.22.

As of 2:50 p.m., the Kospi was trading at 7,582.69, down 5.82 percent on-session.

Earlier in the session, a sell-side sidecar was triggered at 10:23 a.m., suspending p ...