'Foreigners and Institutions Sell, Individuals Buy' KOSPI Closes at 2602.59... KOSDAQ Declines

by Kim Daehyun

Published 26 Dec.2023 17:05(KST)

Despite buying pressure from foreigners and institutions, individual selling volumes poured in, leading the KOSPI index to close slightly higher on the 26th.

On the 26th, the KOSPI started with a slight rise and maintained a firm upward trend. Employees are working in the dealing room of Hana Bank in Myeongdong, Seoul. Photo by Younghan Heo younghan@

On that day, the KOSPI index closed at 2602.59, up 3.08 points (0.12%) from the previous session. The index opened at 2609.44, up 9.93 points (0.38%), but showed mixed trends near the 2600 level. Institutions and foreigners net bought 971 billion KRW and 82.3 billion KRW worth of stocks, respectively. On the other hand, individuals sold off 1.0485 trillion KRW.

Park Gwangnam and Park Sujin, researchers at Mirae Asset Securities, said, "The KOSPI's rise was limited due to expanded individual selling despite reduced year-end trading volume and eased major shareholder capital gains tax." They added, "With this year's dividend system improvements, some listed companies changed their dividend record dates to the first quarter of next year, limiting volatility related to traditional ex-dividend dates."

Among the top market capitalization stocks, Samsung Life Insurance (2.24%), Celltrion (1.78%), Samsung Electronics Preferred (1.33%), Samsung Electronics (0.92%), Shinhan Financial Group (0.77%), Kia (0.73%), Samsung C&T (0.71%), and LG Electronics (0.30%) rose. Conversely, POSCO Future M (-1.97%), POSCO Holdings (-1.46%), LG Energy Solution (-0.95%), Samsung SDI (-0.78%), Kakao (-0.76%), Hyundai Mobis (-0.22%), and Hyundai Motor (-0.10%) declined.

By sector, insurance (1.56%), textiles and apparel (1.32%), pharmaceuticals (0.98%), finance (0.90%), and food and beverages (0.83%) rose. Meanwhile, transportation and warehousing (-2.10%), medical precision (-0.95%), steel and metals (-0.87%), and chemicals (-0.55%) fell.

The KOSDAQ index closed at 848.34, down 6.28 points (-0.73%) from the previous trading day, mainly weakened by declines centered on secondary batteries. The index opened at 877.75, up 1.13 points (0.13%), but soon turned downward. Foreigners and individuals bought 27.4 billion KRW and 35.7 billion KRW worth of stocks, respectively. Institutions net sold 1 billion KRW.

Among the top market capitalization stocks, POSCO DX (14.06%), Alteogen (4.55%), Soulbrain (3.19%), Celltrion Pharm (2.55%), and L&F (2.01%) rose. On the other hand, LS Materials (-9.90%), EcoPro (-3.89%), L&F (-3.61%), EcoPro BM (-3.57%), Lunit (-3.40%), Kakao Games (-2.15%), and JYP Entertainment (JYP Ent.) declined.

Choi Yujun, senior researcher at Shinhan Investment Corp., said, "The KOSPI fell in early trading due to individual selling before the ex-dividend date but closed slightly higher after absorbing the volume. KOSDAQ and small-cap stocks, which have a high proportion of individual trading, closed lower."