![The Kospi and other market indicators are displayed on a screen at Hana Bank's dealing room in Jung-gu, Seoul, on Wednesday. The Kospi opened up 92.97 points, or 1.47 percent, at 6,438.50, while the Kosdaq opened down 2.99 points, or 0.35 percent, at 854.85. [Yonhap]](https://wimg.heraldcorp.com/news/cms/2026/08/12/rcv.YNA.20260812.PYH2026081201720001300_P1.jpg)
The Kospi surged Wednesday, triggering a temporary suspension of program buy orders — known as a buy-side sidecar.
Korea Exchange said the suspension halted program buy-order execution on the Kospi market for five minutes at around 11:57 a.m. after a sharp move in the KOSPI 200 futures index.
At the time of activation, the KOSPI 200 futures index stood at 1,037.76, up 50.68 points, or 5.13 percent, from the previous session's closing price.
A buy-side sidecar is triggered when the KOSPI 200 futures price rises 5 percent or more above its reference price and holds that level for at least one minute.
The Kospi's advance was driven by strength in semiconductor stocks. As of 12:05 p.m., Samsung Electronics and SK hynix were each up more than 7 percent, trading around 258,000 won ($182) and 1.53 million won, respectively.
At the same time, the Kospi was up 294.43 points, or 4.64 percent, at 6,639.96, while the Kosdaq had turned positive, rising 1.47 points, or 0.17 percent, to 859.31.
kacew@heraldcorp.com
