KOSPI and KOSDAQ Fall Over 1%... Foreigners Continue 'Sell Korea' Trend

Rallied Early in the Session Due to Technical Rebound
But Weakness Expected in the Afternoon Amid Tapering Concerns

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Minji Lee] As foreign investors' net selling intensified, the KOSPI and KOSDAQ indices, which showed an upward trend in the early session, turned downward.

At 10:57 a.m. on the 20th, the KOSPI stood at 3067.81, down 0.97% (30.02 points) from the previous trading day. The index opened the day at 3111.10, up 0.43% (13.27 points) from the previous day, and rose to 3122.09 during the session, but soon turned downward. Looking at investor trends, individuals and institutions bought stocks worth 96.1 billion KRW and 47.5 billion KRW respectively, while foreign investors alone sold stocks worth 135.3 billion KRW.

Na Jung-hwan, a researcher at Cape Investment & Securities, said, "There was a slight rise due to a technical rebound in the morning, but the KOSPI needs a period to consolidate downward before reclaiming the 120-day moving average level and moving upward." He added, "Although weakness is expected in the afternoon, tapering affects supply and demand rather than damaging the profits of domestic companies, so the decline will not deepen."

By sector, all showed declines. The sectors with relatively smaller drops were Electric & Electronics (-0.45%), Electric & Gas (-0.5%), Food & Beverage (-0.61%), Chemicals (-0.64%), and Securities (-0.68%). The top market capitalization stocks all showed declines. Samsung Biologics (1.23%) and LG Chem (0.45%) showed gains, but Samsung Electronics (-0.14%), SK Hynix (-0.49%), NAVER (-0.47%), Kakao (-1.71%), Samsung SDI (-1.54%), KakaoBank (-1.30%), and Hyundai Motor (-2.42%) all fell.

At the same time, the KOSDAQ index stood at 975.77, down 1.55% (15.38 points) from the previous trading day. The KOSDAQ opened at 997.02, up 0.59% (5.87 points) from the previous day, and briefly surpassed the 1000 mark early in the session, but then widened its decline. In terms of supply and demand, foreign investors and institutions sold stocks worth 33.8 billion KRW and 10.4 billion KRW respectively, while individuals alone bought stocks worth 43.0 billion KRW.

By sector, all showed declines, with Digital Content (-0.34%), Semiconductors (-0.86%), Distribution (-1.02%), and General Electric & Electronics (-1.29%) showing relatively smaller drops. Among the top market capitalization stocks, Celltrion Pharm (1.24%), Kakao Games (0.92%), Pearl Abyss (3.26%), and SK Materials (2.53%) showed gains, but Celltrion Healthcare (-0.61%), EcoPro BM (-0.45%), HLB (-1.57%), L&F (-3.48%), Seegene (-4.58%), and CJ ENM (-1.91%) also declined.

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