Foreigners Net Buy Over 1 Trillion Won in 5 Months... KOSPI Approaching 3200

First Trillion-Won Net Purchase Since March
KOSPI Closes Up 1.75%... KOSDAQ Ends Slightly Higher

On the 31st, the KOSPI index is displayed in the dealing room of the Myeongdong Hana Bank headquarters in Jung-gu, Seoul. [Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Minwoo Lee] In the final moments of trading, foreign investors purchased over 1 trillion won worth of domestic stocks, pushing the KOSPI to close near the 3200 level.

On the 31st, the KOSPI closed at 3,199.27, up 1.75% (55.08 points) from the previous day. After a firm start, it briefly dipped to 3,130.30 in the morning but rose to 3,199.89 in the afternoon as foreign net buying continued. This marked the first time since the 13th that the index surpassed the 3,190 level.

The large-scale net buying by foreigners, which appeared after a while, lifted the index. Foreigners net purchased a total of 1.1617 trillion won worth of stocks that day. Although they started with net selling in the early session and sold more than 100 billion won until around 11 a.m., they began buying again in the afternoon. They steadily increased their net buying volume, closing the session with over 1 trillion won in net purchases. This was a stark contrast to the previous three consecutive trading days of net selling. It was the first time since March 11 (1.7069 trillion won) that foreigners net bought over 1 trillion won in the KOSPI market in a single day.

Almost all sectors rose. The electric and electronics sector saw the largest increase at 2.71%. This was followed by banks (2.03%), manufacturing (1.97%), pharmaceuticals (1.92%), steel and metals (1.91%), and construction (1.87%). Meanwhile, medical precision (-1.86%), paper and wood (-1.05%), and textiles and apparel (-1.04%) declined.

Among the top 10 market capitalization stocks, all closed higher except LG Chem (-1.56%). Samsung SDI rose the most at 3.93%, followed by SK Hynix (2.90%), Samsung Electronics (2.81%), NAVER (2.57%), KakaoBank (2.44%), Kakao (2.31%), Samsung Biologics (1.90%), Hyundai Motor (1.19%), and Celltrion (0.69%).

On the same day, the KOSDAQ closed at 1,038.33, up 0.63% (6.49 points) from the previous day. It deepened its losses in the morning, falling to 1,026.36 around 11 a.m., but then showed signs of recovery.

In the KOSDAQ market, individual investors alone net bought 68.9 billion won. Foreigners and institutions net sold 49.8 billion won and 6.8 billion won, respectively.

More sectors rose here as well. The IT components sector led with a 3.36% increase, followed by IT hardware (1.78%), distribution (1.32%), semiconductors (1.31%), pharmaceuticals (1.30%), and paper and wood (1.20%). Transportation equipment and parts (-2.37%), digital content (-1.50%), and transportation (-1.31%) declined.

Most of the top 10 market cap stocks also rose. L&F (6.63%) and Alteogen (5.07%) showed particularly notable gains. They were followed by Celltrion Pharm (3.29%), Celltrion Healthcare (2.40%), SK Materials (2.07%), Seegene (1.86%), and EcoPro BM (0.34%). Pearl Abyss (-7.55%), HLB (-5.61%), and Kakao Games (-0.98%) declined.

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