South Korea's stock market has experienced one of the steepest falls in history due to the fallout of the US-Israeli war on Iran. The benchmark KOSPI index dropped by as much as 12.2 percent, surpassing the 12.02 percent single-day plunge triggered by the 9/11 attacks. The index recovered some losses in the afternoon and was down about 10 percent as of 05:00 GMT. South Korean financial authorities activated a 20-minute circuit breaker after losses passed the 8 percent threshold for triggering a halt to trading on the exchange. The losses were spread across the board, affecting corporate giants such as Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix and LG Electronics, but shipping and logistics firms were the most affected by the effective halt of traffic through the Strait of Hormuz.