KOSPI Reverses to Decline During Session Amid Institutional Net Selling

On the 12th, the stock market opened with the KOSPI index declining and the KOSDAQ slightly rising. The won-dollar exchange rate continued to rise from the previous day, reaching its highest level in 17 months. Photo by Heo Younghan younghan@

The KOSPI index turned to a downward trend during the session, pressured by net selling from institutional investors.

As of 10:37 AM on the 12th, the KOSPI index was trading at 2700.83, down 0.2% from the previous day. By investor type, institutions and foreigners were net sellers of 368.8 billion KRW and 44.8 billion KRW respectively, while individuals were net buyers of 400.2 billion KRW.

The New York stock market rose the previous day following the announcement that the Producer Price Index (PPI) for March eased compared to the previous month. The U.S. Department of Labor reported that the seasonally adjusted PPI for March increased by 0.2% month-over-month, which was below the 0.3% forecast compiled by the Wall Street Journal (WSJ).

By sector, more sectors declined. Insurance fell 3.04%, electric and gas utilities -2.68%, distribution -1.77%, textiles and apparel -1.66%, finance -1.68%, telecommunications -1.63%, transportation and warehousing -1.37%, and securities -0.91% all showed weakness. On the other hand, medical precision rose 3.73%, and machinery also gained 2.56%.

Among the top market capitalization stocks, performances were mixed. SK Hynix was up 0.74%, Celltrion 0.89%, NAVER 2.4%, and LG Chem 3.1%. Conversely, LG Energy Solution was down 1.05%, Samsung Biologics -0.25%, Hyundai Motor -0.41%, Kia -1.34%, and Samsung Electronics was moving sideways.

The KOSDAQ index, which started the day higher, maintained its upward trend. At the same time, the KOSDAQ index was trading at 865.5, up 0.86% from the previous day. By investor type, institutions were net buyers of 19.9 billion KRW, while foreigners and individuals were net sellers of 20.5 billion KRW and 5.9 billion KRW respectively.

Among the top market capitalization stocks on KOSDAQ, more stocks were rising. HLB was up 1.22%, Alteogen 5.42%, Rino Industrial 4.7%, Celltrion Pharm 1.05%, HPSP 2.12%, Rainbow Robotics 0.28%, EO Technics 7%, and Samchundang Pharm 8.83%. Meanwhile, EcoPro BM was down 2.09%, and Enchem also fell 1.09%. EcoPro was flat.

Meanwhile, in the Seoul foreign exchange market, the won/dollar exchange rate was trading at 1368.6 won, up 4.5 won from the previous day.