# South Korea’s KOSPI Triggers Circuit Breaker as Nikkei Enters Bear Market

By Enna Lee

Canonical URL: https://www.tokenpost.com/news/investing/50965
Published: 2026-11-07T17:30:48.000Z
Updated: 2026-11-07T17:30:48.000Z
Section: Investing

> The KOSPI fell 8.55% before trading resumed, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 dropped more than 20% below its June closing high.

Asian stocks tumbled in Friday trading, with South Korea’s KOSPI triggering a 20-minute halt after an 8% plunge and Japan’s Nikkei 225 entering bear-market territory as a U.S. chip-stock rout spread across the region.

At 7:03 p.m. ET Thursday, Nov. 5 (9:03 a.m. Friday, Nov. 6, in Seoul), the KOSPI’s decline topped 8%, prompting a 20-minute halt in KOSPI-listed shares. The index stood at 4,923.47, down 8.55%, when trading stopped. After trading resumed, it pared its loss to 7.71% at 4,968. SK Hynix fell 11.71% during the halt and reached an intraday decline of 13.84%.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell below 57,000 points for the first time in about six and a half months before trading at 57,153, down nearly 6.5%. The drop left the index more than 20% below its June 25 closing high of 72,366.34, putting it in technical bear-market territory.

The regional losses followed a 12.25% fall in the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index on Thursday, Nov. 5, and a 5.52% decline in Nasdaq, extending the U.S. selloff in AI-linked stocks.