Selling of shares listed on South Korea’s main KOSPI market briefly halted Monday after the market’s futures index plunged more than five percent. 

The Korea Exchange said the sidecar order took effect at 9:12 a.m. and lasted five minutes after the KOSPI 200 Futures Index slid five-point-19 percent, or 17-point-10 points, from the previous trading day to 312-point-05.

A sidecar order is activated when prices on the futures index deviate from standard prices by five percent or more, and when the rise or fall continues for one minute. 

This is the first time since August last year that a sidecar order has been activated in the KOSPI market.

The KOSPI opened at two-thousand-359-point-25, down four-point-31 percent from the previous session, while the tech-heavy KOSDAQ started at 667-point-02, down two-point-96 percent from the previous trading day.

The local currency started at one-thousand-462 won against the U.S. dollar, weakening 27-point-nine won from the previous session.