An employee works at the dealing room of Hana Bank in Jung-gu, Seoul, on Wednesday, as the Kospi holds steady in early trading. [Yonhap]
An employee works at the dealing room of Hana Bank in Jung-gu, Seoul, on Wednesday, as the Kospi holds steady in early trading. [Yonhap]

The Kosdaq surged more than 4 percent Wednesday, triggering a buy-side sidecar — a temporary suspension of program buy orders — for the second consecutive session, following a similar activation Tuesday.

According to Korea Exchange, the buy-side sidecar was activated at 11:28:44 a.m. Wednesday after the Kosdaq 150 futures price and the spot index moved sharply. The activation suspended the effect of program buy orders for five minutes.

At the time of activation, the Kosdaq 150 futures price stood at 1,158.60, up 6.06 percent, or 66.20 points, from the previous session's closing price. The Kosdaq 150 spot index was at 1,156.27, a gain of 6.19 percent, or 67.42 points.

A Kosdaq sidecar is triggered when the Kosdaq 150 futures price rises 6 percent or more from its reference price and the Kosdaq 150 index climbs at least 3 percent from the previous trading session's closing figure, with both conditions persisting simultaneously for at least one minute.

As of 11:32 a.m., the Kospi was up 1.19 percent at 5,301.46, while the Kosdaq had surged 4.75 percent to 699.34. The Kosdaq later extended its gains to more than 5 percent, briefly reclaiming the 700 mark.


yuni@heraldcorp.com