KOSPI Closes Up Over 2% Led by Sharp Rise in Samsung Electronics

Yonhap News

The KOSPI index closed the session with a strong gain of over 2%, powered by a sharp rise in Samsung Electronics.

On the 18th, the KOSPI index ended trading at 2,469.07, up 52.21 points (2.16%) from the previous day. Trading volume was 431.2 million shares, and the trading value was tentatively tallied at 10.4472 trillion won.

Despite the decline in the New York stock market last week, the KOSPI index started the day on an upward trend. The rise was further boosted by foreign investors' net buying and Samsung Electronics' announcement of a 10 trillion won share buyback, which saw the stock surge over 5%. However, in the late session, foreign investors turned to net selling again, but institutions expanded their net buying to defend the index.

By investor type, institutions and individuals were net buyers of 1.9 billion won and 6.7 billion won respectively, while foreign investors were net sellers of 75.7 billion won. In the futures market, institutions and foreign investors were net buyers of 419.5 billion won and 172.4 billion won respectively, whereas individuals were net sellers of 491.9 billion won. Program trading saw net buying of 32.9 billion won in arbitrage trades and net selling of 368.3 billion won in non-arbitrage trades.

Most sectors rose. The insurance sector surged 8.41%, electricity and gas 4.02%, electrical and electronics 2.91%, transportation equipment 2.87%, distribution 2.74%, chemicals 2.45%, finance 2.36%, food and beverages 2.22%, manufacturing 2.22%, securities 2.0%, services 1.6%, medical precision 1.4%, steel and metals 1.34%, and non-metallic minerals 1.14%. Meanwhile, machinery, pharmaceuticals, and telecommunications sectors closed weaker.

Most of the top market capitalization stocks also rose. Samsung Electronics, which announced a 10 trillion won share buyback, gained 5.98%, LG Energy Solution rose 3.37%, Hyundai Motor 5.34%, Kia 5.57%, Celltrion 4.35%, KB Financial 2.12%, NAVER 0.42%, and Hyundai Mobis 2.78%. On the other hand, SK Hynix fell 3.65%, and Samsung Biologics also closed down 2.24%.

On the day, 617 companies in the KOSPI market rose, 284 fell, and 37 remained unchanged. No stocks hit the upper or lower price limits.

The KOSDAQ index also showed strength. It closed at 689.55, up 4.13 points (0.6%) from the previous day. By investor type, institutions and foreign investors were net sellers of 80.8 billion won and 67.0 billion won respectively, while individuals were net buyers of 158.1 billion won, supporting the index.

Top market capitalization stocks showed mixed movements. HLB surged 25.36%, EcoPro BM rose 2.41%, EcoPro 3.52%, Rainbow Robotics 3.77%, Pearl Abyss 0.4%, and Celltrion Pharm 3.7%. Conversely, Alteogen fell 6.86%, Ligand Chem Bio -5.67%, Hugel -2.72%, Classys -3.9%, Enchem -0.07%, HPSP -4.64%, and Samchundang Pharm -1.89%.

Meanwhile, in the Seoul foreign exchange market, the won/dollar exchange rate was trading at 1,396.1 won, down 3.4 won as of 3:53 p.m.