ROK stocks rebound after massive sell-off

The stock market of the Republic of Korea (ROK) stocks rebounded Tuesday after suffering a massive sell-off in the previous day, showing a dramatic rollercoaster session that triggered a sidecar for the second consecutive day.

The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) soared 338.41 points, or 6.84 percent, to hit a new closing high of 5,288.08, marking its biggest single-day gain in six years.

The Korea Exchange said the buy-side sidecar was activated at 09:26 local time, marking the first such move in about 10 months since April 10 last year.

Under exchange rules, a KOSPI buy-side sidecar is triggered when the KOSPI 200 futures rise more than 5 percent from the base price for at least one minute, temporarily suspending program buying orders for five minutes.

At the time of activation, KOSPI 200 futures jumped 5.05 percent from the previous session to 759.15.

The KOSPI plummeted 5.26 percent in the previous day on Monday.

Bargain hunters focused on blue-chip stocks amid the diverged interpretations over the monetary policy stance of Kevin Warsh, who was nominated as the next chair of the U.S. Federal Reserve.

A sell-side sidecar was activated on Monday as the nomination of Warsh was seen as a signal for hawkish monetary policy in the United States.

The sidecar refers to a temporary halt of program trading orders for five minutes that is triggered when the KOSPI 200 futures rise or fall by more than 5 percent to prevent panic buying or selling.

ROK stocks rebound after massive sell-off

At least one person has died and several others have been hospitalized after a 7.4-magnitude earthquake hit Indonesia’s Maluku Strait early on Thursday morning, with the quake also causing varying degrees of damage to multiple buildings in Manado, the capital city of the North Sulawesi province. The quake struck at 06:48 local time Thursday at a magnitude of 7.4 and a depth of 30 kilometers, according to measurements by the China Earthquake Networks Center (CENC).

There were scenes of panic outside a hospital in Manado when the quake hit, with several seconds of intense shaking causing cracks to appear in the building of the medical facility which belongs to the Siloam private healthcare group.

Patients and medical staff were urgently evacuated to the roadside, with some seen in wheelchairs or still connected to intravenous (IV) drips, while others were even pushed out of the wards on their hospital beds. A car parked downstairs was hit by falling debris, shattering its windows.

"Some people were sleeping at the time, some had just undergone surgery, and others were receiving treatment. The earthquake damaged the hospital's ceiling, and I also saw some cracks in the walls," said Billy Lombok, the family member of a patient.

A tsunami warning was issued but later lifted following the quake as Indonesian authorities observed no significant sea level changes.

Patients rushed out from hospital building as 7.4-magnitude quake hits Indonesia, killing one