Former President Donald Trump (left), who has announced his candidacy for the next U.S. presidential election [Image source=Yonhap News]
The KOSPI index retreated to the 2840 level amid foreign selling pressure. Analysts suggest that former President Donald Trump's remarks on Taiwan's defense spending, who is considered a strong candidate for the next U.S. president, acted as a 'negative factor' across Asian stock markets, including South Korea.
On the 17th, the KOSPI index closed at 2843.29, down 22.80 points (0.80%) from the previous day. The index started lower and widened its losses during the session.
By investor type, foreigners sold stocks worth 263.5 billion KRW, while individuals and institutions bought 114.6 billion KRW and 134.4 billion KRW, respectively. In program trading, arbitrage trades showed a net buying advantage of 145.39 billion KRW, while non-arbitrage trades had a net selling advantage of 156.887 billion KRW, resulting in a total net selling of 156.886 billion KRW.
By sector, textiles and apparel led gains with 10.93%, followed by construction (2.69%), pharmaceuticals (2.26%), non-metallic minerals (1.38%), and chemicals (0.85%). Meanwhile, medical precision (-4.14%), electrical and electronics (-2.19%), machinery (-1.50%), manufacturing (-1.13%), transportation and warehousing (-1.10%), and steel and metals (-1.09%) declined.
Most of the top market capitalization stocks closed lower. Samsung Electronics (-1.14%), SK Hynix (-5.36%), LG Energy Solution (-2.89%), Hyundai Motor (-2.19%), Samsung Electronics Preferred (-0.44%), Kia (-1.55%), and POSCO Holdings (-2.01%) all ended down. However, Samsung Biologics (3.28%) and Celltrion (2.01%) closed higher.
Among individual stocks, F&F (25.9%) showed strong performance following news of acquiring licenses to enter the Chinese and Southeast Asian markets with its own outdoor brand 'Discovery.' Indie F also hit the daily limit up as the inter-Korean economic cooperation theme continued.
Although the U.S. Dow Jones index hit its highest level since June 2023 overnight, showing a 'Trump rally,' Asian markets including South Korea's two markets showed signs of decoupling from this trend. In fact, Japan's Nikkei 225 index (-0.43%) and China's Shanghai Composite index (-0.45%) both closed lower on the day.
Kang Jin-hyuk, a researcher at Shinhan Investment Corp., said, "Due to Trump's Bloomberg interview, Asian stock markets overall were sluggish, and foreign investors exited both domestic markets." He added, "Despite market optimism, it seems necessary to prepare for risks."
He also noted, "Trump hinted at a universal 10% tariff on all imports and the possibility of 60-100% tariffs on China. He stated that while the U.S. protects Taiwan, Taiwan must pay the price (defense costs) because it took the U.S. semiconductor industry, employing a Give & Take strategy. Although Taiwan was mentioned, South Korea and Japan, which are tied in the same value chain, are also showing signs of caution."
Meanwhile, the KOSDAQ index closed at 829.41, down 10.20 points (1.21%) from the previous day. The index started slightly higher but turned downward after mid-session as selling pressure intensified.
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