KOSPI Declines Amid US CPI Release Caution... Institutional and Foreign Investors Net Sell

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The KOSPI index closed lower as institutional and foreign investors engaged in net selling amid cautious sentiment ahead of the U.S. December Consumer Price Index (CPI) announcement.

On the 10th, the KOSPI index closed at 2,541.98, down 19.26 points (0.75%) from the previous day. The trading volume was 555.73 million shares, and the trading value was tentatively estimated at 8.4576 trillion KRW.

By investor type, institutions and foreigners net sold 141 billion KRW and 217.2 billion KRW respectively, while individuals net bought 351.6 billion KRW. Program trading saw net selling of 30.7 billion KRW in arbitrage trading and 22.6 billion KRW in non-arbitrage trading.

The KOSPI index started higher influenced by the Nasdaq's firm performance in the New York stock market the previous day but turned lower pressured by simultaneous selling from institutions and foreigners. This is analyzed as a result of cautious sentiment ahead of the U.S. December CPI announcement scheduled for this week.

By sector, more sectors declined than rose. Steel and metals fell 1.5%, electrical and electronics 1.4%, textiles and apparel 1.2%, medical precision 1.2%, insurance 1.1%, and distribution 1.15%. On the other hand, paper and wood rose 3.7%, construction 1.6%, and transportation equipment 0.8%.

Most of the top 30 market capitalization stocks declined. The leading stock Samsung Electronics fell 1.4%, and SK Hynix, SK, POSCO Future M, KB Financial, and SK Innovation also showed weakness in the 2% range. LG Energy Solution, LG Chem, Shinhan Financial Group, Korea Electric Power Corporation, and Hana Financial Group also saw declines exceeding 1%. Conversely, Hyundai Motor, NAVER, Kakao, and Hyundai Mobis closed higher.

The KOSDAQ index also closed lower. On the day, the KOSDAQ index ended at 875.46, down 9.18 points (1.04%) from the previous day. By investor type, institutions and foreigners net sold 56.2 billion KRW and 231.6 billion KRW respectively, while individuals net bought 296.4 billion KRW.

Among the top market capitalization stocks, more declined than rose. EcoPro BM and EcoPro fell 3.45% and 2.21% respectively, HLB 2.35%, Celltrion Pharm 1.89%, JYP Ent. 2.62%, and HPSP 0.71% were weak. Meanwhile, L&F showed a slight gain of 0.25%, and Alteogen rose 4.62%, Rainbow Robotics 5.93%.

Meanwhile, in the Seoul foreign exchange market, the KRW/USD exchange rate closed at 1,320.1 KRW, up 4.4 KRW from the previous day.

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