South Korean Stocks Rebound, Triggering Circuit Breaker After Early Decline

SEOUL, May 18 (Yonhap) -- South Korean stocks turned higher late Monday morning, rebounding from a sharp decline in earlier trading that triggered a sell-side circuit breaker as investors bought major chipmakers, including market heavyweight Samsung Electronics.

After a choppy session, the benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) added 88.71 points, or 1.18 percent, to 7,581.89 as of 11:20 a.m.

After opening slightly lower, the KOSPI had further extended losses to fall as low as 7,142.71 at one point, or around 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.

The index later recovered, supported by gains in large-cap chip stocks as Samsung Electronics' largest labor union came to the table for a last-ditch government-led wage mediation talks to avert a strike set for later this week.

Samsung Electronics jumped 5.91 percent, and its chipmaking rival SK hynix went up 2.75 percent.

Artificial intelligence investment firm SK Square, however, fell 0.91 percent, and power plant manufacturer Doosan Enerbility dipped 0.54 percent.

Leading battery maker LG Energy Solution lost 3 percent, and major shipbuilder HD Hyundai Heavy dropped 3.91 percent.

Auto shares were also among the losers, with giant Hyundai Motor losing 3.71 percent and its smaller affiliate Kia shedding 2.74 percent.

The Korean won was trading at 1,505.9 won against the U.S. dollar at 11:20 a.m., down 5.1 won from the previous session.