Korea's securities exchange experiences order delays as shares tumble

Some stock market orders were delayed or not executed on Korea’s securities exchange on Monday as shares tumbled during a volatile trading stretch following the war in Iran.

A screen in Hana Bank's trading room in central Seoul shows the Kospi closing at 5,251.87 on March 9, down 333 points, or 5.96 percent, from the previous trading session. [NEWS1]

Some stock market orders were delayed or not executed on Korea’s securities exchange on Monday as shares tumbled amid a volatile trading stretch following the war in Iran.

The issues have since been fixed, a Korea Exchange (KRX) official told Yonhap, adding that the bourse operator is looking into the cause of the trading delays.

Orders were rejected or delayed between 12:30 p.m. and 12:33 p.m. and again between 1:39 p.m. and 1:41 p.m. due to a system failure on the KRX, the operator of the Kospi, Kosdaq and Kodex indexes, according to investors cited by the media outlet MTN.

Trading in the Kodex WTI Crude Oil Futures, an exchange-traded fund on the Kospi, was temporarily halted from 12:32 p.m, after delays.

Separately, Mirae Asset Securities advised investors in a notice to check their order results, warning that orders could be delayed due to instability in the exchange’s system.

The system malfunction comes amid extreme volatility in Korea’s stock market following U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran. The benchmark Kospi plunged more than 12 percent last Wednesday in its biggest one-day drop on record before rebounding nearly 10 percent the following day as investors swung between risk-off selling and bargain hunting.

The KRX earlier on Monday triggered a circuit breaker after the Kospi fell 452.8 points, or 8.11 percent, to 5,132.07, suspending trading for 20 minutes.

A circuit breaker is activated when the index remains 8 percent below the previous session's level for one minute.

The Kospi finished at 5,251.87 points on Monday, down 333 points, or 5.96 percent, from the previous trading session.

BY KIM JU-YEON [kim.juyeon2@joongang.co.kr]