Quiet KOSPI... Closes in Strong Slight Rise at 2980 Level

After Ex-Dividend Date, Institutional Selling... Individuals and Foreigners Net Buyers

On the 4th, employees are working in the dealing room at the Hana Bank headquarters in Jung-gu, Seoul. [Photo by Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Minwoo Lee] The KOSPI fluctuated throughout the session but failed to break out of the flat range, closing quietly around the 2980 level.

On the 4th, the KOSPI closed at 2989.24, up 0.02% (0.47 points) from the previous day. After opening slightly higher at 2991.97, it rose to 2995.25 around 9:59 a.m., then dropped to the 2973 level, but began to rebound afterward and closed near the 2980 level.

Foreigners and individual investors net bought 95.8 billion KRW and 640.3 billion KRW worth of stocks respectively, while institutions net sold 745.6 billion KRW worth.

In the early session, more sectors declined, but near the close, the number of rising sectors increased. Several sectors rose by more than 2%, including Medical Precision (2.94%), Insurance (2.39%), Steel & Metals (2.19%), and Chemicals (2.06%). Banks (-2.27%), Pharmaceuticals (-2.08%), and Services (-2.03%) declined.

Among the top 10 market capitalization stocks, more fell than rose. KakaoBank had the largest drop at -3.05%, followed by NAVER (-2.79%), Kakao (-2.62%), Samsung Biologics (-2.52%), Hyundai Motor (-0.24%), and Samsung SDI (-0.15%). Only LG Chem (4.21%), Kia (1.09%), and Samsung Electronics (0.13%) rose. SK Hynix remained flat.

The KOSDAQ closed down 0.59% (6.17 points) at 1031.66. After starting slightly higher, it fell as much as 1.21% compared to the previous day around 11:23 a.m., but then showed signs of recovering the losses.

Individual investors alone net bought 531 billion KRW. Foreigners and institutions net sold 232.5 billion KRW and 280.5 billion KRW respectively.

More sectors declined. The Digital Content sector had the largest drop at -3.71%, followed by Entertainment & Culture (-2.03%), IT Software & Services (-1.89%), Pharmaceuticals (-1.47%), and Semiconductors (-1.05%). Non-metallics (4.55%), Construction (2.14%), and Computer Services (1.54%) rose.

All of the top 10 market cap stocks fell. Wemade had the largest drop at -7.99%, followed by Celltrion Pharm (-2.97%), Kakao Games (-2.90%), Pearl Abyss (-2.61%), Celltrion Healthcare (-1.37%), HLB (-1.10%), EcoPro BM (-1.04%), Seegene (-0.81%), Chunbo (-0.69%), and L&F (-0.43%).