South Korea halts stock trading for 20 minutes as KOSPI plunges 8%

South Korea's stock market was forced to halt trading on Monday after the benchmark index KOSPI fell 8.3% to close at 7,484.41, its steepest single-day fall since March. Circuit breakers were activated on the index soon after the ​market opened, halting trading for 20 minutes. Technology and semiconductor stocks led the decline, as investors pulled money out of AI-related shares.