KOSPI Retreats to 3,460 Level on AI Rally and Strong Dollar Concerns... KOSDAQ Also Weak

On September 25, the domestic stock market opened lower in early trading.

As of 9:20 a.m. on September 25, the KOSPI was trading at 3,461.10, down 11.04 points (0.32%) from the previous day. Earlier, the index opened at 3,458.98, a decrease of 13.16 points (0.38%) from the previous session.

Yonhap News Agency

While individual investors made net purchases totaling 74.6 billion won, foreign investors and institutions each recorded net sales of 38 billion won and 43.8 billion won, respectively. In the KOSPI200 futures market, foreign investors alone bought 216.9 billion won worth of contracts, while individuals and institutions sold 183.9 billion won and 47.7 billion won, respectively.

The top KOSPI stocks by market capitalization showed mixed performances. HD Hyundai Heavy Industries (up 3.59%), Hanwha Aerospace (up 1.98%), LG Energy Solution (up 1.15%), KB Financial Group (up 0.69%), and Celltrion (up 0.62%) were on the rise, while Doosan Enerbility (down 1.67%), Samsung Biologics (down 1.63%), SK Hynix (down 1.54%), Samsung Electronics (down 0.59%), and Hyundai Motor (down 0.34%) declined.

At the same time, the KOSDAQ was trading at 856.71, down 4.23 points (0.49%). The index had opened at 858.45, down 2.49 points (0.29%). While individual investors made net purchases of 50.4 billion won, foreign investors and institutions posted net sales of 39.2 billion won and 9.6 billion won, respectively.

The leading KOSDAQ stocks by market capitalization showed a selling trend. LIG ChemBio (down 4.28%), ABL Bio (down 1.82%), PharmaResearch (down 1.58%), Peptron (down 1.03%), Samchundang Pharm (down 0.85%), and HLB (down 0.13%) were weak. In contrast, Rainbow Robotics (up 6.22%), Ecopro BM (up 2.17%), and Ecopro (up 1.54%) were strong.

By sector, trade (up 3.67%), shipbuilding (up 2.26%), display (up 2.25%), life sciences (up 2.05%), and aerospace (up 1.40%) were on the rise. On the other hand, electric utilities (down 1.88%), life insurance (down 1.77%), conglomerates (down 1.57%), and internet retail (down 1.56%) were declining.

The domestic stock market continues to face pressure from high valuations, while concerns about an overheating artificial intelligence (AI) rally raised in the New York stock market overnight are putting downward pressure on domestic semiconductor stocks.

The fact that the won-dollar exchange rate surpassed 1,400 won is also dampening foreign investor sentiment. On this day, the won-dollar exchange rate in the Seoul foreign exchange market opened at 1,403.0 won, up 5.5 won from the previous day.

Meanwhile, according to the Korea Exchange Information Data System, as of the previous day's market close, the value of domestic listed stocks held by foreign investors totaled 1,019.7012 trillion won. This accounts for 30.75% of the combined market capitalization (3,315.7288 trillion won) of the KOSPI, KOSDAQ, and KONEX markets. The proportion of domestic stock holdings by foreign investors exceeded 30% for the first time in about a year, since September 13 last year (30.08%).

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