Stage 1 of the Circuit Breaker (CB) was triggered for the first time in KOSPI history. With trading suspended in KOSPI following KOSDAQ, the entire stock market was placed on emergency alert.

The Korea Exchange announced that it triggered Stage 1 of the circuit breaker at 12:32:32 p.m. on the 29th, suspending trading on the KOSPI market for 20 minutes.

At the time of the trigger, the KOSPI index stood at 5,532.33, down 491.33 points (8.15%) from the previous day's close of 6,023.66. The exchange explained that the measure was taken in accordance with relevant regulations as the KOSPI Composite Stock Price Index remained down more than 8% from the previous close for one minute.

■ Circuit Breaker Trigger Conditions

The circuit breaker is a system that temporarily halts trading to stabilize the market when the stock index plunges. The conditions for each stage are as follows.

• Stage 1: KOSPI remains down 8% or more from the previous close for 1 minute → Trading suspended for 20 minutes • Stage 2: KOSPI remains down 15% or more from the previous close and an additional 1 percentage point or more below the Stage 1 trigger index for 1 minute → Trading suspended for 20 minutes • Stage 3: KOSPI remains down 20% or more from the previous close and an additional 1 percentage point or more below the Stage 2 trigger index for 1 minute → Trading closed for the day

This measure was taken in accordance with Article 25 of the KOSPI Market Business Regulations and Article 39 of the Enforcement Detailed Rules of the same regulations.

Meanwhile, a circuit breaker had already been triggered in KOSDAQ earlier in the day.