US Stock Market Rose... KOSDAQ Closes Down Around 1.6%

KOSPI Starts Strongly in the 1% Range,
Ends with Only a 0.26% Increase

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Minji Lee] Despite the U.S. stock market rising on expectations of a pause in interest rate hikes, the domestic stock market did not perform well. The KOSPI closed with a modest gain of just over 0.2%, while the KOSDAQ index fell by more than 1.6%.

On the 5th, the KOSPI ended the day at 2215.22, up 0.26% (5.84 points) from the previous trading day. Although the market turned downward in the afternoon due to increased selling by institutions, foreign investors reduced their net selling and gradually accumulated shares, leading to a positive close. In the stock market that day, individual investors bought stocks worth 451.4 billion KRW, preventing the index from falling, foreign investors net purchased 77.3 billion KRW, and institutions net sold 550.5 billion KRW.

The domestic stock market initially rose more than 1% amid expectations of easing tightening policies following a decline in U.S. job openings, but concerns over an economic recession and profit-taking sales caused the market to falter. Seokhwan Kim, a researcher at Mirae Asset Securities, said, “The market showed a weak trend due to profit-taking sales,” adding, “Institutional investors’ selling for arbitrage, triggered by foreign investors’ futures selling, amounted to nearly 500 billion KRW, causing fluctuations during the trading session.”

Major stocks that showed early gains, such as Samsung Electronics (1.45%) and SK Hynix (4.18%), closed higher. LG Energy Solution (5.51%), LG Chem (0.9%), and Samsung SDI (2.34%) also rose. By sector, the electrical and electronics industry recorded the highest increase, rising 2.3%.

On the other hand, Samsung Biologics (-0.49%), Hyundai Motor (-1.39%), Kia (-2.34%), and NAVER (-7.08%) declined. NAVER hit a new low again on the day, which was interpreted negatively following the announcement of the acquisition of the U.S.-China online platform company Poshmark.

At this time, the KOSDAQ index is at 685.34, down 1.64% (11.45 points) from the previous trading day. The index initially showed a strong rise of over 1% after the market opened but soon turned downward. Looking at investor trends, foreign and institutional investors sold stocks worth 267 billion KRW and 56.2 billion KRW, respectively. Individual investors were the sole buyers, purchasing stocks worth 326.6 billion KRW.

All of the top market capitalization stocks on the KOSDAQ fell. Celltrion Healthcare (-0.73%), EcoPro BM (-1.08%), L&F (-1.05%), HLB (-33.46%), Kakao Games (-5.02%), Pearl Abyss (-7.07%), EcoPro (-3.15%), Celltrion Pharm (-2.31%), JYPEnt. (-4.19%), and Lino Industrial (-2.23%) all ended the day with steep declines. The large drops in entertainment and gaming stocks led to notable declines in the digital content (-3.81%) and leisure culture (-3.81%) sectors.