The KOSPI index plummeted alongside concerns over instability in the U.S. political and financial systems.
On the 10th, the KOSPI index closed at 2394.59, down 24.50 points (1.01%) from the previous day. The trading volume for the day was 403.71 million shares, with a trading value of 7.7284 trillion won.
The KOSPI index opened the session at 2,395.45, down 23.64 points (0.98%) from the previous trading day. On the 10th, dealers were busy moving around in the Hana Bank dealing room in Jung-gu, Seoul. The intraday low below the 2,400 mark was the first in eight trading days since the 27th of last month (2,383.76). Photo by Dongju Yoon doso7@
The KOSPI index, which started the day lower, saw its decline widen as institutional and foreign investors sold off during the session. The previous day, the U.S. New York stock market fell due to caution ahead of the February employment report and concerns over political and financial system instability, which dampened investor sentiment across Asian markets.
Kim Seok-hwan, a researcher at Mirae Asset Securities, analyzed, “The index declined due to Nasdaq’s weakness and broad downturns in the secondary battery, entertainment, and gaming sectors. In particular, liquidity risks at SVB Financial, a U.S. regional bank, along with disappointing earnings and guidance, reflected concerns about financial system risks, leading to weakness in domestic financial stocks.”
By investor type, institutions and foreigners were net sellers of 236.8 billion won and 326.4 billion won, respectively. In contrast, individuals were net buyers of 512.9 billion won, helping to limit the decline. In program trading, there was a net sale of 55.2 billion won in arbitrage trading and 188.6 billion won in non-arbitrage trading.
Most sectors declined. Precision medical equipment fell 2.64%, paper and wood -2.37%, telecommunications -2.02%, machinery -1.88%, non-metallic minerals -1.86%, textiles and apparel -1.6%, transportation and warehousing -1.41%, services -1.29%, and food and beverages -1.27% all showed weakness.
Most of the top market capitalization stocks also weakened. Samsung Electronics fell about 1%, SK Hynix -2.69%, LG Chem -0.42%, Hyundai Motor -0.74%, and NAVER -1.09%. On the other hand, LG Energy Solution recorded a slight gain of 0.36%, Samsung Biologics rose 0.65%, and Samsung SDI increased 0.68%.
The KOSDAQ index also showed a sharp decline. It closed at 788.60, down 20.62 points (2.55%) from the previous day.
The trading volume was 1.18287 billion shares, with a trading value of 10.3615 trillion won. By investor type, institutions and foreigners were net sellers of 189.5 billion won and 174.8 billion won, respectively, while individuals were net buyers of 348.7 billion won.
Most of the top market capitalization stocks showed weakness. Ecopro BM, which had been on a recent upward trend, fell 5.56%, Celltrion Healthcare -3.41%, Ecopro -5.66%, Kakao Games -3.6%, SM Entertainment -4.58%, and Celltrion Pharm -1.2%. In contrast, L&F rose 1.74%, and HLB showed a slight gain of 0.29%.
Meanwhile, in the Seoul foreign exchange market, the won/dollar exchange rate closed at 1324.2 won, up 2.0 won from the previous day.
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