KOSPI Falls Below 2700... Foreigners Sell Off, Closing Lower

On the 14th, dealers are working in the dealing room of Hana Bank in Euljiro, Seoul. On this day, the KOSPI index opened at 2715.10, down 32.61 points (1.19%) from the previous trading day. Photo by Moon Honam munonam@

[Asia Economy Reporter Junho Hwang] On the 15th, the KOSPI closed below the 2700 mark. Although individuals and institutions led net buying, they could not stop foreign selling pressure.

On that day, the KOSPI closed at 2,676.54, down 27.94 points (1.03%) from the previous session. The index opened at 2,712.45, up 7.97 points (0.29%) from the previous session, but showed mixed trends before closing lower. Individuals and institutions net bought 184.2 billion KRW and 66.4 billion KRW respectively, while foreigners net sold 264.8 billion KRW.

Among the top market capitalization stocks, Samsung Electronics closed at 73,700 KRW, the same as the previous day. However, LG Energy Solution (2.48%), SK Hynix (4.15%), NAVER (1.09%), and Samsung Biologics (3.01%) closed lower.

Amid ongoing geopolitical risks stemming from Ukraine, the securities industry analyzed that investors have become more sensitive to individual companies.

Kim Seokhwan, a researcher at Mirae Asset Securities, said, "Ahead of the Ukraine crisis and the release of the FOMC minutes, concerns about tightening by the U.S. Federal Reserve (Fed) have been continuously reflected, dampening investor sentiment," adding, "In the current unstable market situation, sensitivity to stock prices based on earnings announcements has increased."

In particular, weakness in airline stocks was notable. Airline stocks closed lower in unison following news that the U.S. raised its travel advisory for South Korea to the highest level. Earlier on the 14th (local time), the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) advised its citizens not to travel to South Korea due to the rapid spread of COVID-19.

Asiana Airlines closed down 3.00% at 20,900 KRW. Korean Air (3.18%), Jeju Air (2.53%), T'way Air (2.64%), and Hanjin KAL (3.68%) also showed weakness.

HMM closed up 1% on the day, influenced by the announcement of its best-ever performance the previous day. HMM announced that its operating profit for last year increased by 652.2% year-on-year to 7.3775 trillion KRW.

On the other hand, KCC fell sharply due to poor earnings. The company disclosed that its provisional sales for Q4 last year were 1.5097 trillion KRW, up 12.6% year-on-year, and operating profit was 68.3 billion KRW, up 26.8%. However, the stock price closed at 296,500 KRW, down 79,000 KRW (21.04%) from the previous day, reflecting earnings far below market expectations.

Meanwhile, the KOSDAQ index also fell more than 1%. It closed at 839.92, down 12.87 points (1.51%) from the previous session. Individuals and foreigners net sold 16.2 billion KRW and 11.8 billion KRW respectively, while institutions bought 25.5 billion KRW.

Among the top market capitalization stocks, Celltrion Healthcare (4.73%), Pearl Abyss (2.42%), Kakao Games (1.15%), HLB (4.04%), and Celltrion Pharm (4.78%) closed lower.

The won-dollar exchange rate rose. In the Seoul foreign exchange market, the won-dollar rate closed at 1,199.8 KRW, up 8.7 KRW on the day.

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