Seoul stocks plunge for 2nd day amid growing panic sell-off

KOSPI tumbled below the 6,000-point mark after suffering steep losses for a second consecutive day, deepening concerns that the market sell-off has entered a self-reinforcing phase, analysts said Wednesday.

KOSPI closed at 5,663.24, down 5.98 percent from the previous session.

The benchmark index opened at 6,089.11 and climbed as high as 6,228.52 during the session.

Selling then intensified rapidly, with a sell-side sidecar issued at 9:06 a.m. and a circuit breaker activated at 12:32 p.m.

The index plunged to the 5,200-level intraday before paring some of its losses.

Foreign and retail investors led the selling spree, dumping 764.4 billion won ($527.8 million) and 2.93 trillion won in shares, respectively.

Institutional investors purchased 3.61 trillion won in shares, but the buying was not enough to halt the plunge.

SK hynix fell 9.61 percent to close at 1,401,000 won despite announcing record quarterly earnings, while Samsung Electronics plunged 5.23 percent to close at 208,500 won.

The secondary Kosdaq market was also hit hard, falling 6.12 percent to 662.68.

A sell-side sidecar was t ...