KOSPI Ends Slightly Lower at 2727.21 Ahead of US Inflation Index Release...

Early Rise Then Reversal to Decline... Ending Slightly Lower
Food & Beverage, Insurance, Transportation Equipment Strong, KB Financial +2.9%
KOSDAQ JYP Hits 52-Week Low... Entertainment Stocks Also Weak

The KOSPI closed slightly lower as investors remained cautious ahead of the U.S. inflation data release.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

On the 13th, the KOSPI index closed at 2727.21, down 0.42 points (0.02%) from the previous trading day. The KOSPI opened at 2735.20, up 7.54 points (0.28%) from the previous close, reached an early high of 2738.38, then reversed to fall to 2713.92. It recovered slightly towards the end of the session to close near flat.

By investor type, foreigners bought 16.1 billion KRW, institutions bought 17.1 billion KRW, while individuals sold 16.3 billion KRW.

By sector, Food & Beverages (1.89%), Insurance (1.56%), Transportation Equipment (1.33%), and Finance (1.20%) all rose more than 1%. Conversely, Electric & Gas Utilities (-5.42%) and Textiles & Apparel (-1.78%) were weak.

Among the top 10 market cap stocks, half rose and half fell, showing a mixed trend. KB Financial Group (2.90%) and SK Hynix (2.17%) showed positive momentum. Meanwhile, NAVER (-2.28%), Samsung Electronics (-1.01%), and Celltrion (-1.09%) declined by more than 1%.

Joon-ki Cho and Jaehyun Kang, researchers at SK Securities, said, "If today's caution is due to the U.S. April CPI announcement scheduled for Wednesday (15th), it may continue until tomorrow. The market will likely decide whether to break resistance or fall below by confirming the CPI release and next week's Nvidia earnings announcement."

The KOSDAQ index closed at 854.43, down 9.73 points (1.13%).

By investor type, individuals were net buyers with 205.1 billion KRW, while foreigners and institutions were net sellers with 87.0 billion KRW and 107.5 billion KRW, respectively.

487 stocks closed higher, 1,043 stocks closed lower, and 106 stocks were unchanged. EcoPro (-3.26%), Alteogen (-3.41%), Soulbrain (-4.21%), and Dongjin Semichem (-4.50%) all fell more than 3%. JYP Ent. dropped 13.28% to a 52-week low of 60,100 KRW, and other entertainment stocks such as CJ ENM (-4.18%), SM Entertainment (-5.65%), and YG Entertainment (-3.91%) also showed weakness. Among the top market cap stocks, Pearl Abyss rose 4.16%.

The won-dollar exchange rate closed at 1,368.20 KRW, up 0.1 KRW from the previous trading day.