Taking a Breather Before the Holiday... KOSPI Closes Slightly Lower

Foreigners and Institutions Both Sell Heavily in Dual Markets

[Asia Economy Reporter Minwoo Lee] Both the KOSPI and KOSDAQ closed slightly lower. The market showed a cautious stance ahead of the U.S. employment data release and the holiday.

On the 8th, the KOSPI closed at 2956.30, down 0.11% (3.16 points) from the previous day. After starting slightly higher at 2977.82, it gradually declined. Although it briefly dropped to the 2940 range, it recovered to the 2950 range before closing.

By investor type, foreigners and institutions sold net amounts of 48.7 billion KRW and 453.7 billion KRW, respectively. In contrast, individuals bought a net amount of 464.9 billion KRW.

More sectors declined. The largest drops were in banks (-4.09%), transportation and warehousing (-3.09%), telecommunications (-2.70%), and finance (-1.24%). Meanwhile, textiles and apparel (3.23%), transportation equipment (1.46%), and pharmaceuticals (1.43%) rose.

Among the top 10 market capitalization stocks, more rose than fell. Celltrion had the largest gain at 5.1%, followed by LG Chem (3.6%), Samsung SDI (2.8%), Kia (2.6%), Hyundai Motor (1.9%), and Samsung Biologics (1.8%). SK Hynix (-1.7%), Kakao (-1.6%), NAVER (-1.2%), and Samsung Electronics (-0.1%) declined.

The KOSDAQ also closed slightly lower at 953.11, down 0.03% (0.32 points) from the previous day. It showed a similar pattern to the KOSPI, starting slightly higher and then gradually declining.

Foreigners and institutions sold net amounts of 222.8 billion KRW and 112.9 billion KRW, respectively, while individuals bought a net amount of 349.7 billion KRW.

More sectors rose. The paper and wood sector had the largest gain at 4.09%, followed by information devices (3.17%), transportation equipment and parts (2.58%), and publishing and reproduction (2.43%). Digital content (-1.57%), semiconductors (-1.48%), and non-metallic minerals (-1.27%) declined.

Among the top 10 market capitalization stocks, many rose. L&F had the largest gain at 5.6%, followed by HL Biopharma (2.9%), EcoPro BM (2.9%), Celltrion Healthcare (2.6%), Celltrion Pharm (2.3%), and CJ ENM (0.2%). Kakao Games (-2.9%), Pearl Abyss (-2.9%), Wemade (-0.9%), and SK Materials (-0.8%) declined.

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