Domestic Stock Market Shows Mixed Trends Reflecting Institution's 'Fate'... Rebound on Low-Price Buying of Platform Stocks

KOSPI Closes Down at 3125
LN F Ends Trading with Over 19% Gain

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Gong Byung-sun] The KOSPI closed lower as foreign investors intensified their selling in the futures market. Institutions also sold off, resulting in a mixed trend in the domestic stock market.

On the 24th, the KOSPI closed at 3,125.24, down 0.07% (4.76 points) from the previous day. The KOSPI started higher but turned downward in the afternoon, dropping to as low as 3,119.40 at 1:38 PM.

The foreign selling pressure in the futures market led to the weakness. On that day, individuals and institutions bought 96.7 billion KRW and 224.7 billion KRW respectively in the futures market, while foreigners net sold 333.1 billion KRW.

Individual stocks showed a low-price buying trend. KakaoBank, which had experienced adjustments due to recent government regulations, closed up 3.92% at 69,000 KRW. Additionally, content-related stocks such as Showbox showed strong performance as the new Netflix drama "Ojingeo Game" (Squid Game) became a hit. Showbox closed up 21.32% at 6,260 KRW.

Institutional selling also impacted the index decline. Institutions net sold 341.8 billion KRW. However, foreigners, who had net bought about 1.3 trillion KRW since the beginning of this month until the previous day, continued their buying. Individuals and foreigners net bought 255.2 billion KRW and 76.8 billion KRW respectively.

Many sectors showed weakness. The electric and gas sector had the largest drop at 1.56%. This was followed by construction (-1.22%), machinery (-1.14%), medical precision (-1.10%), and transportation equipment (-0.82%). On the upside, textile and apparel (3.34%), banks (3.24%), finance (0.90%), non-metallic minerals (0.89%), and services (0.55%) rose.

Most of the top 10 market capitalization stocks declined. Celltrion had the largest drop at 3.51%, followed by Kia (-1.90%), SK Hynix (-1.42%), Hyundai Motor (-0.72%), Samsung SDI (-0.68%), and Samsung Electronics (-0.13%). Meanwhile, Kakao (3.91%), NAVER (1.38%), Samsung Biologics (0.22%), and LG Chem (0.13%) rose.

At the same time, the KOSDAQ closed at 1,037.03, up 0.07% (0.77 points) from the previous day. It rose to 1,045.21 at 9:27 AM but then turned downward, showing a mixed trend.

Individual buying was strong. Individuals net bought 213.6 billion KRW. Foreigners and institutions net sold 78.7 billion KRW and 112.1 billion KRW respectively.

Sector indices were mixed. IT components rose the most at 5.31%, followed by IT hardware (1.51%), medical and precision instruments (1.01%), construction (0.84%), and information devices (0.83%). On the downside, distribution (-2.03%), broadcasting services (-1.83%), transportation equipment and parts (-1.53%), telecommunications and broadcasting services (-1.48%), and internet (-1.25%) declined.

Many of the top 10 market capitalization stocks showed weakness. Celltrion Pharm’s drop was the largest at 4.51%, followed by Celltrion Healthcare (-3.84%), HL Biopharma (-3.83%), Kakao Games (-0.87%), SK Materials (-0.46%), and Alteogen (-0.25%). On the upside, L&F (19.67%), Pearl Abyss (6.33%), Seegene (2.16%), and EcoPro BM (0.13%) rose.