KOSPI Closes Lower... Within the Influence of Quadruple Witching Day

Individual Investors' Largest Net Buying This Month
Foreigners Net Sell Ahead of Futures and Options Expiration Date

On the 7th, KOSPI opened at 3,244.59, up 4.51 points (+0.14%) from the previous trading day, as dealers were working in the dealing room at the Hana Bank headquarters in Jung-gu, Seoul. Photo by Jinhyung Kang aymsdream@

[Asia Economy Reporter Junho Hwang] On the 9th, the KOSPI closed lower. Although individuals engaged in the largest net buying this month, they could not overcome the net selling by foreigners and institutions. Ahead of the index and individual stock futures and options expiration day (Quadruple Witching Day) on the 10th, foreigners engaged in net selling of spot and futures, and institutions also stopped net buying for two consecutive trading days and switched to net selling on this day.

On this day, the KOSPI closed down 29.51 points (0.91%) at 3,218.32. Individuals net bought 729.9 billion KRW, the largest net buying this month. However, foreigners and institutions net sold 331.1 billion KRW and 388 billion KRW respectively, failing to prevent the index from falling. Foreigners net sold for three consecutive trading days including this day.

Among all stocks, 303 stocks rose, while 558 stocks fell. 558 stocks showed a flat trend.

By sector, the textile and apparel sector's rise (2.44%) was notable. Among the representative rising stocks, Ssangbangwool, which entered the bid for Eastar Jet acquisition, rose 29.94% to 907 KRW. Following that, Vivian rose 9.66%, and TBH Global rose 7.21%. In addition, sectors such as telecommunications (0.33%), electric and gas (0.16%), transportation and warehousing (0.13%), and machinery (0.02%) showed upward trends.

Among the top market capitalization stocks, SK Hynix's decline stood out. On this day, SK Hynix closed down 3.92% at 122,500 KRW. Samsung Electronics also fell 0.98% to 81,100 KRW. Researcher Kyungmin Lee from Daishin Securities Research Center analyzed, "SK Hynix led the market decline due to issues such as noise related to RAM and increased labor costs from labor-management wage negotiations." Among the top 10 market cap stocks, only Kakao rose, closing up 0.39% at 129,000 KRW.

On the 7th, KOSPI opened at 3,244.59, up 4.51 points (+0.14%) from the previous trading day, as dealers were working in the dealing room at the Hana Bank headquarters in Jung-gu, Seoul. Photo by Jinhyung Kang aymsdream@

The KOSDAQ started higher on the day but closed lower. It ended the session down 6.73 points (0.68%) at 979.39. Similar to the KOSPI, individuals contributed to the index rise with net buying of 103.3 billion KRW, but foreigners and institutions net sold 112.6 billion KRW and 11.9 billion KRW respectively, resulting in a decline.

By sector, transportation and parts sectors rose 0.54%. Following that, food, beverage and tobacco, entertainment, other manufacturing, digital, medical and precision sectors showed upward trends.

Among the top market cap stocks, pharmaceutical stocks such as Celltrion Healthcare (2.85%), Celltrion Pharm (3.69%), EcoPro BM (1.28%), and HLB (0.30%) stood out with declines. Kakao Games (0.54%), Pearl Abyss (0.51%), and CJ ENM (0.24%) showed upward trends.

On the 7th, the KOSPI opened at 3,244.59, up 4.51 points (+0.14%) from the previous trading day. Dealers are working in the dealing room at the Hana Bank headquarters in Jung-gu, Seoul. Photo by Jinhyung Kang aymsdream@

Regarding the market decline on this day, Sangyoung Seo, a researcher at Mirae Asset Securities Media Content Division, said, "The widening decline in the afternoon is presumed to be due to foreign futures supply and demand ahead of the futures and options expiration day rather than the emergence of new issues," adding, "such extreme market fluctuations depending on foreign futures trends are expected to continue until tomorrow."

Researcher Kyungmin Lee said, "The KOSPI's decline widened amid simultaneous net selling of spot and futures by foreigners," and added, "with the U.S. consumer price index (CPI) announcement on the 10th (local time) (expected CPI year-over-year 4.7%, compared to 4.2% in April) approaching, a wait-and-see stance is emerging."

Researcher Youngjin Ahn from SK Securities Research Center said, "China's producer prices announced on this day rose by as much as 9% compared to last year," and predicted, "this is expected to be passed on to the U.S. consumer price index (CPI), which is why attention is focused on the U.S. CPI."