Kospi Gives Up 7,200 Intraday, Closes at 6,869.83 as Foreign Buying Ebbs
Summary
- The Kospi reclaimed the 7,200 level intraday before closing at 6,869.83 as foreign investors cut back their net purchases of spot stocks.
- Foreign investors reduced net buying on the Kospi market from 1.5204 trillion won early in the session to 46.7 billion won near the close, while individuals were net buyers of 1.1978 trillion won and institutions were net sellers of 1.1927 trillion won.
- Major heavyweight stocks including Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix, LG Energy Solution and Ecopro fell, dragging the Kosdaq to 834.20.
Forecast Trend Report by Period
The Kospi briefly climbed back above 7,200 during trading on Aug. 18 before slipping back into the 6,000s by the close as foreign investors sharply pared stock purchases.
The benchmark closed at 6,869.83, down 108.11 points, or 1.55%, from the previous session.
The index opened at 7,127.77 and rose as high as 7,216.62. Its advance lost momentum around 10 a.m., and it soon turned negative.
The biggest shift in trading came from foreign investors, who had driven the early rally. They were net buyers of 1.5204 trillion won of stocks on the Kospi market through 9:52 a.m., but that figure had narrowed to 46.7 billion won near the close of regular trading. Net buying of Kospi 200 futures also topped 800 billion won at one point before easing to 148.6 billion won late in the session.
Individuals were net buyers of 1.1978 trillion won of shares on the Kospi market near the close, while institutions were net sellers of 1.1927 trillion won.
Most large-cap stocks ended lower.
Samsung Electronics reversed earlier gains to close down 2.19%. SK Hynix, which had risen more than 7% intraday, saw its advance shrink to 1.03%.
Samsung Electro-Mechanics fell 7.57%, while LG Energy Solution dropped 5.01%.
The Kosdaq closed at 834.20, down 30.45 points, or 3.52%. On that market, individuals were net buyers of 454.3 billion won of shares, while institutions and foreign investors sold a net 416.3 billion won and 20 billion won, respectively.
Most of the Kosdaq's largest companies also fell.
Ecopro and Ecopro BM dropped 6.94% and 6.51%, respectively. Rainbow Robotics fell 6.19%.
Jusung Engineering and EO Technics surged during the session, but their gains narrowed to 0.84% and 2.48% by the close.
Biotech shares were also weak, with Alteogen down 5.10% and ABL Bio off 5.11%.
In Seoul's foreign-exchange market, the won traded at 1,413.20 per dollar, down 2.4 won, or 0.17%, from the previous session.
Han Gyeong-u, Hankyung.com reporter, case@hankyung.com
Korea Economic Daily
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