Korea's bourse operator on Tuesday activated a sell-side sidecar for the benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) after the index tumbled sharply. Program trading for the KOSPI was suspended for five minutes at around 10:23 a.m., according to the Korea Exchange (KRX). The KOSPI came under heavy selling pressure as investors locked in profits after Samsung Electronics released its preliminary second-quarter earnings estimate. Local technology stocks plunged on profit-taking after the chipmaker estimated its operating profit for the April-June period at 89.4 trillion won ($58.4 billion), beating market forecasts. After opening down 1.6 percent at 7,920.48, the KOSPI fell as low as 7,568.59 during the session.