KOSPI Ends Slightly Lower Amid Selling Pressure from Institutions and Foreigners

[Image source=Yonhap News]

The KOSPI index closed slightly lower, pressured by selling from institutional and foreign investors.

On the 24th, the KOSPI index ended trading at 2469.69, down 8.92 points (0.36%) from the previous day. Trading volume was 381.89 million shares, and the trading value was tentatively estimated at 7.1749 trillion won.

By investor type, institutions and foreigners net sold 81.3 billion won and 24.3 billion won respectively, while individuals net bought 95.7 billion won. Program trading saw net selling of 8.3 billion won in arbitrage trading and net buying of 64.6 billion won in non-arbitrage trading.

On this day, the KOSPI index started in a slightly weak range as the New York stock market paused ahead of major corporate earnings announcements. Additionally, the recent sluggishness in the Chinese stock market negatively impacted the index, widening the intraday decline.

By sector, the medical precision industry fell 1.49%, paper and wood -1.33%, transportation and warehousing -1.12%, pharmaceuticals -1.05%, construction -0.88%, food and beverages -0.8%, and electrical and electronics -0.69% were weak. In contrast, insurance rose 1.03%, chemicals 0.92%, finance 0.48%, telecommunications 0.21%, and electric and gas utilities 0.2% increased.

Among the top market capitalization stocks, performances were mixed. Samsung Electronics fell 1.6%, Samsung Biologics -1.38%, Celltrion -0.5%, POSCO Holdings -0.74%, and Kakao -1.73%. Meanwhile, SK Hynix showed a slight gain of 0.5%, LG Energy Solution rose 1.87%, Hyundai Motor 0.11%, and LG Chem 2.43% increased.

The KOSDAQ index also recorded weakness on the day. The KOSDAQ index closed at 836.21, down 3.9 points (0.46%) from the previous day. By investor type, institutions and foreigners net sold 78.6 billion won and 142.3 billion won respectively, while individuals net bought 242.2 billion won.

Most of the top market capitalization stocks declined. EcoPro BM and EcoPro fell 0.21% and 0.39% respectively, HLB -3.13%, L&F -1.99%, HPSP -3.43%, Celltrion Pharm -1.82%, Alteogen -4.61%, Lino Industrial -2.61%, Rainbow Robotics -0.41%, and JYP Ent. -0.47% decreased.

Meanwhile, in the Seoul foreign exchange market, the won/dollar exchange rate closed at 1337.0 won, up 3.6 won from the previous day.