Kospi triggers circuit breaker as US tech rout hits Asia

Asian markets plunged on Friday, November 6, after a selloff in US technology stocks spread across the region's chip-heavy exchanges. In Seoul, the Kospi fell more than 8% minutes after the open, which triggered a circuit breaker and a 20-minute trading halt. Japan's Nikkei 225 dropped about 5%, Reuters reported.reuters.com

The rout comes from investor worries that Democrats, who swept this week's US midterm elections, will push for tighter rules on artificial intelligence and slow the construction of data centers. Those fears hit an AI trade that was already shaky over doubts about returns on huge technology spending, according to Reuters.reuters.com

Seoul halts trading

The Korea Exchange triggered a first-level circuit breaker at 9:03 a.m. That step stops all trading for 20 minutes when the index stays at least 8% below the previous close for one minute, Korea JoongAng Daily reported. The index fell below 5,000 points for the first time since February, and the tech-focused Kosdaq set off a separate sell-side curb, according to MoneyToday. Yonhap said this was the tenth circuit breaker on the exchange this year.mt.co.kr+2

Memory chipmakers led the losses. Samsung Electronics fell nearly 10% and SK hynix ↘ 13.40% lost more than 11%. In Tokyo, Tokyo Electron fell about 9% and Kioxia dropped 13%, Free Malaysia Today reported. SoftBank Group fell as much as 16%, according to Bloomberg.freemalaysiatoday.com+1

Wall Street's worst day in years

The selloff started in New York on Thursday. The Nasdaq Composite fell 5.5% and the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index PHLX Semiconductor Index ↘ 12.13% dropped 12.2%, while about $3 trillion in value was erased from S&P 500 ↘ 4.41% companies, Reuters reported. The S&P 500 had its worst day since the tariff meltdown of April 2025, according to Bloomberg via Swissinfo.swissinfo.ch+1

According to that report, markets first rallied on the Democratic sweep. Traders then turned to the risk that newly elected governors could tighten local control over data centers. Texas governor-elect Gina Hinojosa has called for an immediate moratorium on new data-center development, Bloomberg reported.swissinfo.ch

Analysts see more pain

Japanese brokerage Monex said there were particular "concerns that stricter regulations on data center construction will slow down construction projects," Free Malaysia Today reported. Floodlines Research founder Anna Wu called the moves "a 'blue trade' panic pricing in policy risk," with "plenty of chip and equipment exposure still to unwind," according to Bloomberg.freemalaysiatoday.com+1

"It's pretty clear there's been a real shift in sentiment," Michael McCarthy of Moomoo told Reuters. Nick Ferres of Vantage Point Asset Management said he suspected "it will be an ugly day for semiconductor and memory (stocks)."reuters.com