Kospi Reverses Lower in Early Trade, Swings Around 8,600

Samsung Electronics rises while SK Hynix falls

South Korea’s Kospi swung around the 8,600 level early on June 2 after reversing sharply lower.

As of 9:17 a.m., the benchmark index was down 120.42 points, or 1.37%, at 8,667.96. The Kospi opened 1.08% higher and rose as far as 8,933 in early trading, making a brief push toward 9,000, before profit-taking sent it quickly down to the 8,500 range, heightening volatility.

Foreign investors were net sellers of 1.8328 trillion won in the Kospi market at that time. Retail and institutional investors were net buyers of 1.6784 trillion won and 222.4 billion won, respectively.

Performance among the Kospi’s largest stocks was mixed. Samsung Electronics rose 3.87%, Samsung Electronics preferred shares gained 2.62%, LG Energy Solution advanced 6.7%, Samsung Life Insurance climbed 2.93%, and Samsung C&T added 1.54%. SK Hynix fell 1.1%, SK Square lost 1.19%, Hyundai Motor dropped 2.67%, and Samsung Electro-Mechanics slid 8.63%.

Doosan Robotics jumped 14.02%, while SK Telecom gained 12.48% and LG Electronics rose 5.78% on expectations of collaboration with Nvidia.

The Kosdaq fell for a fifth straight session. As of that time, the tech-heavy index was down 26.28 points, or 2.5%, at 1,023.75. On the Kosdaq, retail investors were net sellers of 205.2 billion won, while foreign and institutional investors were net buyers of 125.5 billion won and 48 billion won, respectively.

The won-dollar exchange rate opened higher. In Seoul trading, the won weakened 7.7 won to 1,512.0 per dollar from the previous session.

Noh Jung-dong, Hankyung.com reporter, dong2@hankyung.com