South Korean stocks open sharply lower, triggering sell-side sidecar

SEOUL, May 18 (Yonhap) -- South Korean stocks opened sharply lower Monday, triggering a sell-side sidecar for a second consecutive session as investors tracked declines on Wall Street last week amid rising woes over inflation caused by the deadlocked situation in the Middle East.

After starting 0.67 percent lower, the benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) had further extended losses to shed 317.8 points, or 4.24 percent, to 7,175.38 as of 9:15 a.m.

The index fell as low as 7,142.71 at one point, or more than 5 percent.

At around 9:19 a.m., program trading for the KOSPI was suspended for five minutes. The country's bourse operator issues the order when the KOSPI 200 futures rise or fall by more than 5 percent.

On Friday (local time), U.S. stocks retreated from record highs amid persistent concerns over rising oil prices driven by ongoing geopolitical tensions in the Middle East.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 1.07 percent, while the S&P 500 fell 1.24 percent and the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite lost 1.54 percent.

In Seoul, technology shares faced widespread profit-taking following their recent rally, with foreigners leading the selling spree.

Top-cap Samsung Electronics fell 1.76 percent, while its chipmaking rival SK hynix decreased 1.7 percent.

Leading battery maker LG Energy Solution went down 1.63 percent.

Auto shares were also among the losers, with giant Hyundai Motor losing 1.27 percent and its smaller affiliate Kia shedding 4.78 percent.

In contrast, defense giant Hanwha Aerospace went up 0.86 percent.

The Korean won was trading at 1,501.45 won against the U.S. dollar at 9:15 a.m., down 0.65 won from the previous session.