'Passive Funds' Return?… Foreigners and Institutions Switch to Buying, Stock Market Slightly Rises

KOSPI up 0.55%
KOSDAQ up 0.50%
Bio stocks strong... Celltrion rises 3%

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Ji Yeon-jin] The domestic stock market, which showed mixed trends immediately after opening on the 25th, is recording a slight upward trend. This appears to be due to foreign investors and institutions, who had shown a selling preference in the early session, switching to buying amid expectations of easing tightening by the U.S. Federal Reserve.

The KOSPI index stood at 2,248.35 at 10:48 a.m., up 12.19 points (0.55%) from the previous day. Foreign investors and institutions, who had shown selling preference in the early session, are leading the rise by net buying stocks worth 39.4 billion KRW and 49.3 billion KRW, respectively. On the other hand, individuals are net selling stocks worth about 82 billion KRW.

Today's stock market seems to have stabilized investor sentiment due to the U.S. stock market closing higher the previous day, driven by earnings expectations for major big-tech companies such as Alphabet and Microsoft, and the possibility of the Federal Reserve (Fed) slowing the pace of tightening.

Positive effects were also seen as political uncertainty in the UK eased following news that Rishi Sunak, former UK Chancellor of the Exchequer, was nominated as the new Prime Minister just three days after former Prime Minister Liz Truss resigned.

It is also analyzed that the Chinese stock market's consecutive two-day decline, following the previous day, influenced foreign investor flows. Ji-young Han, a researcher at Kiwoom Securities, said, "With the trend of foreign net buying continuing since October, there is a prospect that global passive and asset allocation funds may partially shift from China, where policy uncertainty has increased, to other Asian countries such as Korea," adding, "It is necessary to pay attention to the flow of funds into Asian stock markets including Korea by foreign investors for the time being."

In the domestic stock market today, the rise of bio stocks stood out. Kolon TissueGene, which resumed trading today, surged to the upper limit price, and as a result, SillaJen also recorded an intraday rise of over 10%, up 5.13%.

Among the top market capitalization stocks in KOSPI, Celltrion rose 3.65%. In addition, LG Energy Solution showed an increase in the 2% range, and Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix, Samsung Biologics, and Samsung SDI also recorded gains of over 1%. However, LG Chem fell more than 2%, and Hyundai Motor showed a slight decline. NAVER and Kia are showing slight gains.

At the same time, the KOSDAQ index was at 691.92, up 3.42 points (0.50%) from the previous day. Individuals are net buying stocks worth about 49.6 billion KRW, while foreign investors and institutions are net selling stocks worth about 43.7 billion KRW and 9.5 billion KRW, respectively.

In KOSDAQ, while bio stocks are strong, secondary battery-related stocks are weak. Celltrion Healthcare and Celltrion Pharm are showing gains of over 2%, and HLB is also up more than 1%. However, EcoPro BM and EcoPro fell 2.90%, and L&F also dropped more than 3%. Kakao Games, Pearl Abyss, and Cheonbo are showing slight declines.

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