Tuesday South Korean equities plunged as profit-taking in chip leaders accelerated. Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix fell more than 5%. KOSDAQ and KOSPI triggered circuit breakers, suspending automated trading for five minutes.

Foreign investors were net sellers of over 2 trillion won of KOSPI stocks in the morning session (about $1.3bn), while retail investors bought the dip.

Huh Seok-geun, CIO at Eugene Asset Management in Seoul, said the sell-off appears driven mainly by profit-taking after recent sharp gains and that high retail leverage and elevated margin balances could amplify declines and increase sensitivity to negative catalysts.