KOSPI Falls Despite Foreigners Turning to Net Buying... KOSDAQ Mixed

On the 16th, when the KOSPI index started lower due to selling by individuals and foreigners, dealers were working in the Hana Bank dealing room in Euljiro, Seoul. The KOSPI opened at 2,995.68, down 3.84 points (0.13%) from the previous trading day. Photo by Moon Honam munonam@

[Asia Economy Reporter Junho Hwang] On the afternoon of the 18th, the KOSPI continued to decline amid growing inflation concerns.

On this day, the KOSPI recorded a drop of 5.68 points to 2956.74 in the afternoon, down 0.19% from the previous session. Individual and foreign investors were net sellers of 60.1 billion KRW and 26.2 billion KRW respectively, but institutions sold shares worth 92.6 billion KRW, pushing the index downward.

Among the KOSPI-listed stocks, 253 stocks were rising while 622 stocks were falling. Most of the top market capitalization stocks were experiencing declines. Samsung Electronics, the "unchanging leader" which showed signs of early gains, fell 0.14% to 70,600 KRW. SK Hynix, another semiconductor stock, also dropped 0.45% to 110,000 KRW. Among the top 10 stocks by market cap, only NAVER and LG Chem showed gains. NAVER traded up 2.49% to 411,000 KRW on expectations following the appointment of a CEO in his 40s. LG Chem rose 0.78% to 775,000 KRW on news of cooperation with GS Caltex to mass-produce plastic raw materials.

By sector, the number of rising sectors increased in the afternoon. This appears to be influenced by foreign investors switching from net selling in the morning to net buying in the afternoon. Rising sectors included services (0.35%), electricity and gas (0.34%), and non-metallic minerals (0.22%).

The KOSDAQ showed mixed trends. Although it declined in the morning, it turned upward and as of now is 0.19% higher than the previous session at 1033.94. Individuals and institutions are net buyers of 161.2 billion KRW and 1 billion KRW respectively, while foreign investors are showing net selling intentions of 101.9 billion KRW.

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