Kospi Trades Flat Early as US Tech Weakness Weighs; Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix Fall
Summary
- The Kospi was hovering near flat as weakness in US technology stocks coincided with heavy net selling by foreign and institutional investors and net buying led by retail investors.
- SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics were under pressure, while SK Square, Samsung Life Insurance, Samsung C&T and LG Energy Solution were trading higher.
- On the Kosdaq, net selling by foreigners faced off against net buying by retail and institutional investors, while some bio, secondary-battery and robotics-related stocks were mixed and the won-dollar exchange rate opened higher at 1,539.4 won per dollar.
Forecast Trend Report by Period
South Korea’s Kospi moved little in early trading on June 23 as weakness in US technology stocks weighed on sentiment.
As of 9:14 a.m., the Kospi was up 2.22 points, or 0.02%, at 9,116.77. The index opened 0.34% lower and fluctuated around the flatline.
US stocks ended mixed overnight as large technology shares weakened. The tech-heavy Nasdaq fell more than 1% after declines in Alphabet, Amazon, Meta Platforms and Microsoft.
On the main bourse, foreign investors were net sellers of 1.3979 trillion won and institutions sold a net 132.2 billion won. Retail investors were net buyers of 1.4622 trillion won.
Among heavyweight Kospi stocks, SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics fell 0.41% and 0.85%, respectively, in early trading. SK Square jumped 5.74% as the value of its stake in SK Hynix came into focus.
Samsung Life Insurance rose 7.99%, Samsung C&T added 5.77%, Doosan Enerbility gained 3.93% and LG Energy Solution climbed 1.95%. Samsung Electro-Mechanics fell 5.16%, while Hyundai Motor and Kia declined 1.38% and 0.79%, respectively.
The Kosdaq fell 1.49 points, or 0.15%, to 966.91 at the same time. On the Kosdaq market, foreign investors were net sellers of 44.6 billion won, while retail and institutional investors were net buyers of 32.3 billion won and 13.3 billion won, respectively.
Among the Kosdaq’s largest stocks, Alteogen rose 2.00%, Ecopro gained 0.96%, HLB advanced 3.94% and LigaChem Biosciences climbed 4.71%. Rainbow Robotics fell 1.75%, Jusung Engineering dropped 3.23%, Wonik IPS slipped 0.99% and Fadu lost 3.88%.
The won opened lower against the dollar. In Seoul trading, the won-dollar exchange rate opened at 1,539.4 won per dollar, up 2.4 won from the previous session.
Kim Yeon-ji, Hankyung.com reporter kongzi@hankyung.com
Korea Economic Daily
hankyung@bloomingbit.ioThe Korea Economic Daily Global is a digital media where latest news on Korean companies, industries, and financial markets.
