"Welcome Oil Price Drop"... KOSPI Rises in Early Trading Session

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Jung-yoon] The domestic stock market is showing an upward trend in the early trading session, driven by the rise in the US stock market and the decline in international oil prices.

At 9:10 a.m. on the 15th, the KOSPI stood at 2,644.57, up 0.88% (23.04 points) from the previous trading day. The KOSPI opened at 2,649.85, up 1.08% (28.32 points) from the previous day. Individual investors led the rise with net purchases of 98.9 billion KRW. On the other hand, foreigners and institutions sold net amounts of 65.4 billion KRW and 30 billion KRW, respectively.

Today, the domestic stock market is showing strength due to the upward trend in the US stock market. In the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX), April delivery West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil fell 6.4% (6.57 dollars) per barrel to 96.44 dollars, contributing to the rise. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 1.82%, the Standard & Poor's (S&P) 500 index rose 2.14%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq index increased by 2.92%. Additionally, although the US Producer Price Index (PPI) for February rose more than 10% year-on-year, it met expectations, easing inflation concerns and influencing the rise in the US stock market.

All of the top market capitalization stocks showed an upward trend. LG Energy Solution rose 1.87%, showing the largest gain. This was followed by SK Hynix (1.78%), KakaoBank (1.71%), Kia (1.16%), Samsung Electronics (1.01%), Kakao (0.97%), NAVER (0.92%), Samsung Biologics (0.74%), Samsung SDI (0.72%), LG Chem (0.68%), and Hyundai Motor (0.61%).

By sector, machinery (1.98%), transportation and warehousing (1.98%), banking (1.26%), electrical and electronics (1.13%), non-metallic minerals (1.07%), chemicals (1.03%), and manufacturing (0.94%) rose. Conversely, electric and gas utilities (-0.72%) and textiles and apparel (-0.39%) declined.

At the same time, the KOSDAQ index also rose 1.46% (12.72 points) from the previous session to 883.94. Institutions made net purchases of 5.5 billion KRW, while individuals and foreigners made net purchases of 600 million KRW and 2.3 billion KRW, respectively.

As of 9:23 a.m., among the top market capitalization stocks, EcoPro BM, related to the secondary battery sector, showed strong performance with a rise of over 3%. This was followed by Rino Industrial (2.83%), Chunbo (2.04%), Kakao Games (1.78%), and L&F (1.54%).