Asia Stocks Crumble as KOSPI Halts Trading and Nikkei Enters a Bear Market

Asian stock markets fell hard at the Friday open on November 6, 2026. South Korea's KOSPI triggered a first level circuit breaker that halted all trading for 20 minutes, and Japan's Nikkei fell 5.9 percent and entered a technical bear market, 20 percent below its June high.

The KOSPI opened at 5,263.26, down 120.54 points, or 2.24 percent, the Korea JoongAng Daily reported, citing Yonhap. Selling deepened fast. At 9:03 a.m. Korea time, 00:03 UTC, the index stood at 4,924.61, down 459.19 points, or 8.52 percent, and the Korea Exchange activated the circuit breaker. It was the 11th first level breaker on the index this year. A first level breaker triggers when the index falls at least 8 percent from the previous close and stays there for one minute.

Curbs in Seoul, heavy losses in Tokyo

Sell side sidecar curbs followed in Seoul. A sidecar was triggered on the KOSPI at 9:34 a.m., the 30th this year, and on the KOSDAQ at 9:06 a.m., the 17th this year. The KOSDAQ stood at 632.56 at 9:24 a.m., down 45.85 points, or 6.75 percent, Money Today reported. Samsung Electronics fell about 9 percent in early trading and SK Hynix fell about 11 percent. The Korean won was quoted at 1,357.4 won against the US dollar at 9:25 a.m., down 1.9 won from the previous session close, Yonhap reported.

In Tokyo, the Nikkei was down 5.9 percent at 57,497.16 in early trade at 00:50 GMT, the Wall Street Journal reported. Chip stocks led the fall. Kioxia Holdings fell 10 percent, Advantest fell 12 percent and SoftBank Group fell 12 percent. The dollar stood at 157.73 yen. An earlier market flash had put the Nikkei down 3.7 percent at 58,845.71, and the index then fell further.

The Wall Street rout behind the fall

Asia tracked Wall Street on Thursday, November 5, when the S and P 500 fell 4.36 percent and the Nasdaq fell 5.52 percent. Reuters reported that about 3 trillion dollars was wiped off S and P 500 companies, the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index slumped 12.2 percent overnight, and the Nasdaq has shed 12 percent from its record high close a month ago. Reuters linked the selling to investor fear that the Democratic midterm sweep could bring more regulatory scrutiny and slow the AI data center build-out.

Michael McCarthy, chief executive for Australia and New Zealand at Moomoo, told Reuters: "It's pretty clear there's been a real shift in sentiment." He added: "Market turning points are often accompanied by strong disagreement, and that shows up in the market by huge swings in either direction." Nick Ferres, chief investment officer at Vantage Point Asset Management in Singapore, told Reuters: "Treasuries can probably rally a lot further. And I suspect it will be an ugly day for semiconductor and memory (stocks)."

US stock futures fell on Thursday evening. S and P 500 futures dropped 0.8 percent, Nasdaq 100 futures slid 1.3 percent and Dow futures fell 264 points, or 0.5 percent, as traders awaited the Friday October payrolls report.