KOSPI Breaks Below 2400 Level for First Time in 7 Months... Closes Down 1.7%

KOSDAQ Closes at 769.25, Down 1.89%
"Secondary Battery Stocks See Widened Decline"

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The KOSPI index closed down nearly 1.7% due to heavy selling by institutional investors. This is the first time since March 21 that the index fell below the 2400 mark at the close.

On the 20th, the KOSPI index closed at 2375.00, down 40.80 points (1.69%) from the previous trading day. The index opened at 2391.54, down 24.26 points (1.00%), breaking below the 2400 level for the first time in over seven months. After opening, it dropped further to 2364.01 before recovering slightly to close in the 2370 range. Individual and foreign investors were net buyers of approximately 115.6 billion KRW and 63.7 billion KRW respectively, while institutions were net sellers of about 176.4 billion KRW.

Among the top market capitalization stocks, POSCO Holdings (-5.03%), LG Energy Solution (-3.54%), LG Chem (-3.04%), Hyundai Motor (-2.86%), Kia (-2.85%), Samsung SDI (-2.83%), Samsung Electronics (-1.01%), Samsung Biologics (-0.70%), and Naver (NAVER) (-0.66%) declined in that order. SK Hynix rose by 0.40%. Kakao’s stock price, affected by the realization of legal risks faced by its management, fell 3.58% to 39,050 KRW, failing to hold the 40,000 KRW level.

By sector, steel & metals (-3.90%), textiles & apparel (-3.76%), transportation & warehousing (-3.38%), medical precision (-2.91%), and chemicals (-2.77%) showed weakness. The construction sector was up 1.04%.

The KOSDAQ index closed at 769.25, down 14.79 points (1.89%) from the previous session. Individual and foreign investors sold approximately 60.6 billion KRW and 53.7 billion KRW respectively, while institutions bought about 132 billion KRW.

Among the top market capitalization stocks on KOSDAQ, EcoPro (-5.89%), L&F (-4.98%), POSCO DX (-3.48%), EcoPro BM (-2.51%), Alteogen (-1.79%), JYP Ent. (-0.79%), and Celltrion Healthcare (-0.16%) declined. Pearl Abyss and HLB rose by 2.24% and 0.71% respectively. HPSP also increased by 0.30%.

Kim Seok-hwan, a researcher at Mirae Asset Securities, explained, "The worsening Middle East conflict and the U.S. 10-year Treasury yield threatening 5% again caused investor sentiment to weaken, despite the Financial Monetary Committee’s decision to hold interest rates steady." He added, "With no sectors showing gains, the poor earnings of Tesla led to an expanded decline in secondary battery stocks."

Meanwhile, the USD/KRW exchange rate closed at 1,352.4 KRW, down 5.0 KRW from the previous day. Although the 10-year U.S. Treasury yield surpassed 5% for the first time since 2007, causing the exchange rate to rise, it appears to have turned downward as export companies, perceiving this as a peak, increased their dollar selling (negotiation) volume.

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