KOSPI Falls Over 1% Amid Foreigners' Net Selling Pressure

[Asia Economy Reporter Minji Lee] The KOSPI is falling more than 1% due to large-scale net selling by foreigners.

At 1:40 PM on the 31st, the KOSPI stood at 2329.34, down 1.04% (24.46 points) from the previous session. The KOSPI opened the day at 2377.09, up 0.99% (23.29 points) from the previous session, but turned downward in the afternoon. In the KOSPI market, foreigners alone sold stocks worth 909.1 billion KRW. Individuals and institutions bought stocks worth 740.3 billion KRW and 143.2 billion KRW, respectively.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Looking at the top market capitalization stocks, most are declining. Samsung Electronics traded at 54,700 KRW, down 1.26% from the previous session. SK Hynix (-2.70%), Naver (-3%), LG Chem (-2.9%), Samsung Biologics (-2.75%), Celltrion (-2.63%), Kakao (-0.12%), and Samsung SDI (-3.2%) also fell.

At the same time, the KOSDAQ index stood at 841.06, down 0.03% (0.24 points) from the previous session. In the KOSDAQ market, foreigners alone bought stocks worth 63.4 billion KRW. Individuals and institutions sold stocks worth 3.1 billion KRW and 45.7 billion KRW, respectively.

Among the top market capitalization stocks, Seegene (2.48%), Alteogen (7.12%), Genexine (3.75%), KM Healthcare (0.26%), and CJ ENM (0.93%) showed upward trends.

Sangyoung Seo, a researcher at Kiwoom Securities, explained, “The U.S. stock market's strength and the decrease in new COVID-19 cases led to a rise of more than 1%, but the market turned downward due to weakness mainly in the semiconductor and electrical/electronics sectors, where large-scale net selling by foreigners was concentrated. While the Japanese and Chinese stock markets are showing strength, the domestic market is judged to have weakened investor sentiment due to the spread of social distancing measures caused by COVID-19.”

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