KOSPI Rises on Foreign and Institutional Buying... Impact of US CPI Slowdown

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Jung-yoon] The KOSPI index is showing a rise of over 1% due to buying pressure from foreigners and institutions.

As of 10:25 AM on the 13th, the KOSPI index was recorded at 2391.92, up 26.82 points (1.13%) from the previous trading day. The index started at 2377.34, up 12.24 points (0.52%), and continued to rise as foreigners and institutions maintained a buying advantage. Foreigners and institutions purchased approximately 213.5 billion KRW and 249.5 billion KRW respectively, while individuals sold a net 461.6 billion KRW.

Among the top market capitalization stocks, most showed gains. Kia recorded the largest increase, rising 2.66%. Following were NAVER (2.32%), Kakao (2.11%), Hyundai Motor (1.50%), Samsung Electronics (0.99%), Samsung SDI (0.64%), LG Chem (0.63%), SK Hynix (0.58%), and Samsung Biologics (0.49%). LG Energy Solution fell by 0.10%.

By sector, all showed gains except for Medical Precision (-0.28%). The top performers were Transportation & Warehousing (3.71%), Steel & Metals (2.49%), Securities (2.44%), Transportation Equipment (1.79%), and Services (1.77%).

Photo by Yonhap News

On the 12th (local time), the US stock market closed higher as the increase in the December Consumer Price Index (CPI) slowed down. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 216.96 points (0.64%) to 34,189.97, the large-cap S&P 500 index closed at 3,983.17, up 13.56 points (0.34%), and the tech-heavy Nasdaq index ended at 11,001.11, up 69.43 points (0.64%).

The US December CPI rose 6.5% year-over-year, marking the smallest increase in 12 months since October 2021. Month-over-month, it decreased by 0.1%. This was the first monthly decline in CPI since May 2020. The core CPI, which excludes volatile energy and food prices, rose 5.7% year-over-year and 0.3% month-over-month.

With inflation easing, concerns over the Federal Reserve's aggressive tightening have diminished. There are expectations that the Fed may reduce the rate hike to 0.25 percentage points at the February Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting. Additionally, remarks from Patrick Harker, President of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, suggesting no need for excessive monetary policy responses, also supported the upward trend.

At the same time, the KOSDAQ index is also rising. It traded at 713.12, up 2.30 points (0.32%) from the previous day. Individuals were net buyers of about 64.1 billion KRW, while foreigners and institutions were net sellers of approximately 54.0 billion KRW and 6.7 billion KRW respectively.

Among the top market capitalization stocks, Celltrion Healthcare (1.18%), Kakao Games (0.90%), HLB (0.79%), and Celltrion Pharm (0.59%) rose. Conversely, Pearl Abyss (-1.38%), L&F (-0.80%), and Studio Dragon (-0.76%) declined.

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