[Asia Economy Reporter Oh Ju-yeon] In the second week of October, the KOSPI slipped again near the 2400 mark. Except for a slight rise on the 12th, it recorded a continuous decline over four trading days from the 13th to the 16th. Analysts attribute this to the visible resurgence of COVID-19 in the US and Europe, along with concerns over delayed economic recovery acting as negative factors.
According to the Korea Exchange on the 17th, from the 12th to the 16th, the KOSPI fell 2.63% from 2404.73 to 2341.53. It failed to surpass the previous high of 2400 and consistently dropped whenever it approached that level.
As the KOSPI fell below 2400, individual investors, who had shown net selling for eight consecutive trading days, turned to net buying. In the previous week, individuals purchased stocks worth 961 billion KRW in the KOSPI market. Foreign investors also net bought 128.1 billion KRW, while institutions sold off 789.1 billion KRW.
The most notable stock in the domestic market last week was Big Hit Entertainment. Big Hit, which debuted on the KOSPI on the 15th, opened at 270,000 KRW, double its public offering price of 135,000 KRW, and hit the upper price limit at the opening, achieving the so-called 'ttasang' (first-day limit-up after doubling the IPO price). The valuation of Big Hit CEO Bang Si-hyuk's stake of 12,377,337 shares soared to as high as 4.34 trillion KRW.
However, after the stock price rose to 351,000 KRW, it reversed and on the 16th closed down sharply by 22.29%, falling to 200,500 KRW. Investors who bought Big Hit shares on the first day of listing, expecting the price to continue rising as with SK Biopharm and Kakao Games, were left disappointed.
Over the two days of the 15th and 16th, individuals purchased Big Hit shares worth 403.8 billion KRW, making it the top net bought stock for the week. On the 15th alone, they net bought 243.5 billion KRW, and even on the 16th, when the price dropped more than 20%, they bought about 160.2 billion KRW worth of shares.
Following Big Hit, individuals ranked Hyundai Motor (379.7 billion KRW), LG Chem (111.4 billion KRW), Kia Motors (98.3 billion KRW), and Shinhan Financial Group (96.5 billion KRW) as their top net purchases from second to fifth place. They also focused on index gains by net buying KODEX KOSDAQ150 Leverage and KODEX Leverage worth 79.2 billion KRW and 50.4 billion KRW respectively. Conversely, they sold KODEX 200 Futures Inverse 2X worth 94.4 billion KRW.
The top two net sold stocks were SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics, with sales of 395.2 billion KRW and 394.1 billion KRW respectively.
Lee Kyung-min, a researcher at Daishin Securities, analyzed, "As the resurgence of COVID-19 in the US and Europe becomes apparent, weak US weekly employment data, the possibility of delayed economic recovery, and US-China tensions have acted as negative factors for the stock market." He added, "Uncertainties such as delays in US stimulus package agreements reducing policy expectations and concerns over global COVID-19 resurgence have stimulated profit-taking psychology, expanding selling pressure."
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