On July 2nd, influenced by a wave of selling in U.S. technology stocks, the South Korean stock market opened sharply lower and declined rapidly.

The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) was down 5.26% at the time of reporting.

Among major components, SK hynix Inc. shares fell 8%, while Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. shares dropped 7%.

The Korea Exchange activated its SIDECAR mechanism, halting program trading on the KOSPI market for a five-minute period.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 index extended its losses to 2%, declining by over 1,300 points.

The sell-off followed a weak overnight session in U.S. markets, where the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOX) plunged 6.27%.

Only two of the index's thirty component stocks managed gains.

Stocks in the optical communications sector were uniformly lower, with Corning Incorporated tumbling 13.62%.

The memory and storage segment also saw significant declines: SanDisk Corporation fell 10.62%, Micron Technology, Inc. dropped 10.57%, Western Digital Corporation declined 6.32%, and Seagate Technology Holdings plc was down 5.16%.