Foreigners and Institutions "Selling" Despite... KOSPI Closes Slightly Higher

KOSDAQ Rises Over 1% on Foreign Buying
Kakao Maintains 3rd Place in Market Cap

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Gong Byung-sun] The KOSPI closed the session with a slight gain. Although the KOSPI started higher, it showed a weaker performance compared to the KOSDAQ as foreigners and institutions sold off their holdings.

On the 18th, the KOSPI closed at 3,267.93, up 0.09% (2.97 points) from the previous trading day. It even rose to 3,275.76 at 9:26 a.m. that day.

The market showed weakness as foreigners and institutions absorbed sell orders. Seo Sang-young, a researcher at Mirae Asset Securities, explained, “The domestic stock market started higher, buoyed by the strong U.S. stock market, but foreigners and institutions released sell orders. In particular, financial stocks such as banks and insurance, as well as steel and construction sectors, were weak, and the semiconductor sector also turned downward.”

However, the KOSDAQ saw continued foreign buying following the previous day. Researcher Seo said, “The rise was centered on stocks with clear earnings improvements, such as telecommunications equipment and IT components.”

The KOSDAQ experienced strong buying from individual investors, who net purchased 885.1 billion KRW. In contrast, foreigners and institutions net sold 826.2 billion KRW and 61.9 billion KRW, respectively.

Almost all sectors declined. The banking sector had the largest drop at 1.85%. This was followed by insurance (-1.16%), transportation and warehousing (-1.11%), finance (-0.71%), and paper and wood (-0.54%). Meanwhile, service industries (1.97%), textiles and apparel (1.93%), machinery (1.59%), medical precision instruments (1.24%), and non-metallic minerals (0.72%) rose.

Many of the top 10 market capitalization stocks showed gains. Kakao’s increase of 4.73% was the largest, maintaining its position as the third largest by market cap. This was followed by Samsung SDI (3.69%), NAVER (2.18%), Kia (1.03%), Celltrion (0.37%), and Samsung Biologics (0.36%). SK Hynix (-1.58%), LG Chem (-1.56%), Hyundai Motor (-0.63%), and Samsung Electronics (-0.49%) declined.

The KOSDAQ closed at 1,015.88, up 1.21% (12.16 points) from the previous trading day. It even rose to 1,016.33 at 2:51 p.m. that day.

Foreign and institutional buying led the index’s rise. Foreigners and institutions purchased 269.9 billion KRW and 111.8 billion KRW, respectively. Individuals net sold 365.4 billion KRW.

Almost all sectors showed strength. Telecommunications equipment had the largest gain at 3.72%, followed by transportation equipment and parts (2.25%), pharmaceuticals (2.02%), digital content (1.73%), and other services (1.71%). Finance (-0.27%), other manufacturing (-0.20%), transportation (-0.14%), broadcasting services (-0.10%), and information devices (-0.10%) declined.

All of the top 10 market capitalization stocks rose. HL Biotech’s gain of 6.47% was the largest, followed by Pearl Abyss (4.23%), Alteogen (4.11%), Celltrion Pharm (3.48%), Kakao Games (3.22%), EcoPro BM (1.92%), Seegene (1.42%), SK Materials (1.20%), Celltrion Healthcare (0.93%), and CJ ENM (0.17%).