Seoul: After a staggering advance for the past few months, South Korea's stock market crashed on Wednesday, bearing the brunt of fears over the overvaluation of tech stocks amid an artificial intelligence (AI) boom.

Stung by the fears over valuation, the country's benchmark index, the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), sank 117.32 points, or 2.85 percent, to 4,004.42, after dipping to as low as 3,867.81 at one point on Wednesday. The market capitalisation on the main bourse declined 97 trillion won (US$67 billion), reports Yonhap news agency.

The market rout triggered a sidecar, to suspend stock trading for 5 minutes in the morning session.

The market crash came after the country's stock market had rallied nearly 80 percent since April this year, the best-performer among major

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