Due to the sharp decline in the US stock market... KOSPI starts down 4% at 2088 (Comprehensive)

Strong Personal Selling Pressure... Bio Sector is 'Holding Up'

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Minwoo Lee] Due to concerns over the second wave of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19), the domestic stock market opened lower, influenced by the retreat in the U.S. stock market. It appears that the selling pressure from individual investors was significant. While all stocks fell, only some bio sectors showed slight gains and held up well.

According to the Korea Exchange on the 12th, the KOSPI index opened down 4.07% (88.54 points) from the previous day at 2088.24. It then slightly rebounded to record 2110.00, down 3.02%, as of 9:25 a.m.

In the securities market, individuals net sold 46.3 billion KRW, while institutions and foreigners net bought 100 million KRW and 60.2 billion KRW, respectively.

All sectors declined. Many sectors such as transportation equipment (-4.81%), textiles and apparel (-4.70%), machinery (-4.66%), and securities (-4.52%) fell more than 4%.

Among the top 10 market capitalization stocks, only Celltrion and Samsung Biologics rose, increasing by 1.5% and 0.1%, respectively. All other stocks fell. The largest declines were seen in Hyundai Motor (-4.6%), SK Hynix (-4.0%), Samsung Electronics (-3.7%), Samsung SDI (-3.8%), and LG Chem (-3.6%).

The KOSDAQ index also opened lower, down 4.51% (34.15 points) from the previous day at 722.91. It then narrowed the loss and recovered to 736.34 as of 9:25 a.m.

In the KOSDAQ market, only individuals showed selling pressure, while foreigners and institutions were buyers. Individuals net sold 112 billion KRW, whereas foreigners and institutions net bought 138.9 billion KRW and 14.8 billion KRW, respectively.

All sectors were in decline. Many sectors such as entertainment and culture (-4.63%), IT components (-4.40%), metals (-4.33%), and transportation (-4.24%) fell more than 4%.

Among the top 10 market capitalization stocks, most fell except for the bio sector. Seegene showed the largest gain of 3.4%, followed by Celltrion Pharm (0.4%) and Celltrion Healthcare (0.1%). On the other hand, CJ ENM (-4.1%), Alteogen (-3.6%), Pearl Abyss (-3.0%), and KMW (-2.9%) declined.

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