South Korea halted Kospi trading for 20 minutes after the index plunged more than 8% Tuesday, led by steep losses in major chip stocks.

South Korea's Kospi index has plunged over 10% on heavy selling of chipmaking stocks that have gyrated recently due to concerns over the sustainability of the boom in artificial…

The benchmark Kospi plunged 551 points, or 8.1%, to 6,2505. The steep decline triggered "sidecar" trading curbs on both the Kospi and the junior Kosdaq index, temporarily halting…