Continuous Decline, Half of Listed Stocks Hit New Lows

Over 1,026 This Month, Exceeding 44%
Foreigners Net Sold Over 1 Trillion Won in a Single Day

[Asia Economy Reporter Oh Ju-yeon] Due to the aftermath of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19), nearly half of the domestically listed stocks hit 52-week lows in March. In particular, on the 9th, when foreign investors sold off domestic stocks in record volumes amid the plunge in international oil prices and the global stock market crash, more than 500 stocks hit new lows in a single day.

On the 10th, dealers were busy working in the dealing room of KEB Hana Bank in Euljiro, Seoul. On this day, the KOSPI index opened lower at 1,942.85, down 11.92 points (0.61%) from the previous trading day. Photo by Moon Honam munonam@

According to the Korea Exchange on the 10th, during the six trading days from March 2 to 9, a total of 1,026 out of 2,320 listed stocks recorded 52-week lows. This accounts for 44.224% of the total.

This is a significant increase compared to last month when the domestic stock market began a full-fledged downward trend due to COVID-19. As of the end of February, the number of stocks hitting new lows was 480 in the KOSPI and 401 in the KOSDAQ, totaling 881. Even that figure was more than 15 times higher than the 57 stocks at the end of January, but this month it increased even further, rising 16.46% compared to the previous month and 1700% compared to two months ago.

In particular, the increase in stocks hitting new lows was prominent in the KOSPI market. The number of stocks hitting new lows this month was 656 in the KOSPI market and 370 in the KOSDAQ market, representing increases of 36.67% and 8.38%, respectively, compared to the previous month.

On the 9th, when foreigners net sold more than 1.3 trillion won in a single day, 293 stocks in the KOSPI market and 225 stocks in the KOSDAQ market plunged to their lowest price levels in the past year. On the same day, foreigners sold 1.3125 trillion won in the KOSPI market. This is the largest net selling amount since the Korea Exchange began storing electronic data in 1999. The previous record was 1.3094 trillion won during the Deutsche Option incident on November 11, 2010.

This volume was absorbed by individual investors. Individuals net bought 1.2799 trillion won in the KOSPI market, which is the second-largest amount since August 10, 2011 (1.5559 trillion won), when the US credit rating downgrade had an impact.

Seo Sang-young, a researcher at Kiwoom Securities, forecasted, "The World Health Organization (WHO) announcing that the COVID-19 pandemic has become very real could dampen investor sentiment." He added, "If no new risks emerge, further adjustments may be limited, and expectations for US-originated economic stimulus policies are also rising," emphasizing, "It is necessary to pay attention to future responses."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.