Program trading on South Korea's main bourse was briefly suspended on Friday after future prices soared by more than five percent. 

The Korea Exchange said a "sidecar" was activated to suspend trading on the KOSPI market for five minutes at 11:22 a.m. after KOSPI 200 index futures jumped over five percent from the previous close. 

It marks the first time since December 1, 2011, that the sidecar was activated on the main market due to a sharp rise in the future prices. 

The rise comes as South Korea and the United States agreed to sign a 60-billion-dollar currency swap deal in a move to relieve a liquidity crunch triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic. 
 
On Thursday, trading on the main KOSPI and the secondary KOSDAQ markets were suspended after stock prices plunged over eight percent.