'Watching the General Election' Individual and Foreign Investors Sell Together, KOSPI Closes at 2705.16

Only institutions are "Saja," individuals and foreigners are "Palja"
Semiconductor sideways movement led by Jang recently
KOSDAQ also closed down together

The KOSPI closed lower on the 9th, a day before the 22nd general election holiday. The domestic stock market will be closed on the voting day, the 10th.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

On the 9th, the KOSPI index closed at 2705.16, down 12.49 points (0.46%) from the previous trading day. The KOSPI started at 2733.23, up 15.58 points (0.57%) from the previous close, hitting an early high of 2741.23 before steadily declining. In the afternoon, heavy selling pushed it down to a low of 2703.96, before it barely closed near the 2700 level.

By investor type, individuals sold 12.9 billion KRW, and foreigners sold 134 billion KRW. Only institutions bought, purchasing 124.9 billion KRW. After five consecutive days of selling, institutions switched to buying for the first time in six days.

By sector, only Transportation and Warehousing (1.38%), Steel and Metals (0.81%), and Machinery (0.47%) performed well. In contrast, Pharmaceuticals (-1.85%), Insurance (-1.73%), and Textiles and Apparel (-1.37%) fell more than 1%, while Financials (-0.89%), Chemicals (-0.68%), Telecommunications (-0.62%), and Retail (-0.58%) also struggled.

The top 10 market capitalization stocks showed mixed results. SK Hynix (0.94%), LG Energy Solution (0.27%), and POSCO Holdings (0.12%) closed slightly higher. Meanwhile, Samsung Electronics, which had touched 86,000 KRW for the first time in three years the previous day, fell 1.07%. Samsung Biologics (-1.23%), Hyundai Motor (-1.94%), Celltrion (-3.82%), and Samsung SDI (-2.14%) all declined by more than 1%.

Kang Jin-hyuk, a researcher at Shinhan Investment Corp., said, "In the absence of direction in leading sectors such as semiconductors and low price-to-book ratio (PBR) sectors, industrial sectors like construction machinery, shipbuilding, and transportation were strong. The semiconductor sector remained flat due to a lack of events, and low PBR sectors (transportation equipment, financials, utilities) showed a sideways trend without clear direction ahead of the general election."

The KOSDAQ index closed down 1.24 points (0.14%) at 859.33.

By investor type, foreigners sold 21.6 billion KRW, and institutions sold 29.5 billion KRW. Individuals bought 46.8 billion KRW.

671 stocks closed higher, 852 stocks closed lower, and 111 stocks were unchanged. Among the top market cap stocks, Alteogen (6.72%), EO Technics (4.79%), and Classys (3.06%) were strong. Celltrion Pharm (-2.14%), HPSP (-2.85%), Hugel (-4.75%), Solbrain (-3.73%), ISC (-2.64%), and Wonik IPS (-5.28%) closed weak.

The won-dollar exchange rate closed at 1354.9 won, up 1.7 won from the previous day.