The South Korean KOSPI index fell by 8% on Thursday. According to market reports on platform X, the decline triggered the circuit breaker mechanism, resulting in a midday trading halt.

Chip manufacturers Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix led the decline, with losses ranging between 9% and 11%.

This decline erased the gains of the index since its high in June and continued its longest streak of declines in recent years.

Earlier in the same day, after the index fell by 6%, the South Korean exchange temporarily suspended programmed selling orders for 5 minutes.

Market commentators linked this sell-off to U.S. inflation data that was stronger than expected. This data raised market expectations that the Federal Reserve would adopt more restrictive policies. In addition, the market is also concerned about debt issues of service providers such as AI and CoreWeave, as well as the intensifying chip competition from China.

Japan's Nikkei index also fell by nearly 4%.