South Korea's benchmark stock index has extended losses in early trading following declines on Wall Street and in other Asian markets, the Associated Press reported.
The Korea Composite Stock price Index fell 89.97 points, or 7.9 percent, to 1,044.62 within the first hour of trading Thursday. At one point, the Kospi plunged as much as 8.4 percent. Program selling was halted for five minutes due to heavy selling in futures.
In New York on Wednesday, the Dow Jones industrial average fell 514.45, or 5.69 percent, to 8,519.21. Broader indexes also declined.
In Asia, Japan's Nikkei 225 stock average fell more than 7 percent early Thursday. Markets in Australia and New Zealand also declined.
Thursday's fall brings the Kospi's decline so far this year to 44.9 percent.