KOSPI Starts Slightly Lower Amid US CPI Surge... KOSDAQ Turns Upward

On the 14th, dealers are working in the dealing room of Hana Bank in Euljiro, Seoul. On this day, the KOSPI index opened at 2316.41, down 12.20 points (0.52%) from the previous session. The won-dollar exchange rate started at 1306.5 won, down 0.4 won. Photo by Moon Honam munonam@

[Asia Economy Reporter Myung-Hwan Lee] On the 14th, the KOSPI is holding up well despite a slight decline at the start following the sharp rise in the US Consumer Price Index (CPI) for June. Similarly, the KOSDAQ index, which also started lower, soon turned upward and is on the rise. Institutions, which showed net buying in the domestic stock market the previous day, have turned to net selling in just one day.

As of 9:20 a.m., the KOSPI is at 2,323.50, down 0.22% (5.11 points) from the previous trading day. The KOSPI opened at 2,316.41, down 0.52% (12.20 points), but the decline is gradually narrowing. By investor type, individuals and foreigners are buying stocks worth 47.8 billion KRW and 18.7 billion KRW respectively, while institutions are solely net selling 65.1 billion KRW.

Among the large-cap stocks in the KOSPI market, Samsung Electronics is trading at 57,900 KRW, down 0.17% (100 KRW) from the previous day, slipping to the 57,000 KRW level. Naver (NAVER) is also trading down 2.32%. Other stocks such as ▲SK Hynix (-0.74%) ▲Samsung Biologics (-1.44%) ▲Samsung Electronics Preferred (-0.38%) ▲Kia (-0.38%) are also declining. Meanwhile, secondary battery-related stocks like Samsung SDI (3.98%), LG Chem (2.51%), and LG Energy Solution (1.00%) are on the rise. Hyundai Motor is also trading 0.27% higher than the previous day.

At the same time, the KOSDAQ index is at 767.55, up 0.57% (4.37 points) from the previous day. The KOSDAQ opened at 762.54, down 0.08% (0.64 points) from the previous day, but soon turned upward and is increasing its gains. By investor type, individuals are the sole net buyers with purchases worth 64.6 billion KRW, while foreigners and institutions are selling stocks worth 31.1 billion KRW and 23.2 billion KRW respectively.

Among the large-cap stocks in the KOSDAQ market, secondary battery-related sectors such as L&F (4.33%), EcoPro BM (4.58%), and Cheonbo (3.11%) are leading the gains. On the other hand, pharmaceutical-related stocks like Celltrion Healthcare (-2.06%), Celltrion Pharm (-2.16%), and Alteogen (-1.41%) are weak.

The limited decline in the domestic stock market appears to be influenced by the US stock market narrowing its losses despite the sharp rise in the June CPI. Sang-Young Seo, Head of Media Content at Mirae Asset Securities, said on the 14th regarding the domestic stock market, "Although the US stock market started sharply lower due to the higher-than-expected inflation data, the growing expectation of an inflation peak led to a narrowing of losses, especially in the Nasdaq, which will have a positive impact on the Korean stock market."

There are also forecasts that the impact of the June CPI on the market will be limited. Kyung-Min Lee, a researcher at Daishin Securities, analyzed, "Immediately after the release of the June CPI, the US stock market even reversed to an upward trend, recovering most of the losses. Since the market already experienced a shock in May, the impact of the same issue was limited."

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