Trading halted in Seoul as global chip stock sell-off hits Asia

Rough day for investors in Seoul. After a heavy sell-off of tech shares in the US, stock markets across Asia slid too, and South Korea's market was hit the hardest.

The situation got so tense that trading in Seoul had to be suspended for a short time. A trading halt is a temporary pause meant to give the market a moment to calm down before business resumes.

At the centre of the slump are chip and tech stocks. Worries about artificial intelligence and about oil prices are weighing on sentiment, according to reports. In the US, it was the worst drop since 2020, and key stock indices around the world have been dragged down with it.

So this is not just a Korean story. The sell-off is global, from Wall Street to the exchanges in Asia, and chip shares are right in the middle of it. South Korea simply felt it most strongly in the region.

For anyone following the markets, the picture is clear for now: chip and tech shares are under heavy pressure on international exchanges, and Seoul is where it showed most dramatically.