Despite Samsung Electronics Rebound, KOSPI Closes Slightly Lower at 2480s

Index Bottom Supported as Over 300 Billion Won Institutional Buying Inflows
Impact of Value-Up Fund Launch

Despite a rebound in Samsung Electronics, the KOSPI closed slightly lower in the 2480 range on the 21st. Institutional buying worth around 300 billion KRW flowed in, supporting the lower end of the index.

On the 21st, the KOSPI opened at 2,474.62, down 7.67 points (0.31%) from the previous trading day, as dealers were working in the dealing room of Hana Bank's headquarters in Jung-gu, Seoul. The won/dollar exchange rate rose 8.1 won to 1,399.0 won, and the KOSDAQ index started at 683.10, up 0.19 points (0.03%), before turning downward. Photo by Jo Yong-jun

According to the Korea Exchange, the KOSPI index closed at 2480.63, down 1.66 points (0.07%) from the previous trading day. The index opened at 2474.62, down 7.67 points (0.31%) from the previous day, then turned upward, rising as high as 2496.97 during the session, but gave back gains near the close.

In the securities market, institutions net bought 296.9 billion KRW, while foreigners and individuals net sold 259.5 billion KRW and 127.4 billion KRW respectively, pulling the index down.

Top market capitalization stocks showed mixed trends. Samsung Electronics, ranked first in market cap, rose 1,100 KRW (1.99%), but SK Hynix closed down 1.06% at 168,800 KRW. POSCO Holdings (3.05%), KB Financial (1.78%), and Celltrion (1.34%) rose, while NAVER (-1.76%) and Hyundai Motor (-1.37%) fell.

Ji-won Kim, a researcher at KB Securities, said, "Despite Samsung Electronics’ rebound, the KOSPI turned lower after four days and closed slightly down. Foreigners continued net selling for 10 consecutive trading days, while institutional buying worth 300 billion KRW flowed in, supporting the lower end of the index. This is believed to be influenced by the value-up fund that started investing from today."

The KOSDAQ index closed down 2.24 points (0.33%) at 680.67.

In the KOSDAQ market, foreigners net sold 77.3 billion KRW. Individuals and institutions had net buying positions of 64.4 billion KRW and 2.9 billion KRW respectively.

Among the top market cap stocks in KOSDAQ, HPSP (-5.57%) had a large drop, followed by Ligachem Bio (-4.53%), Rainbow Robotics (-3.13%), Samchundang Pharm (-2.07%), Hugel (-1.60%), and Alteogen (-1.14%). On the other hand, EcoPro rose more than 6%, and HLB (2.37%), EcoPro BM (1.93%), and Pearl Abyss (1.92%) showed strength.

Jin-hyuk Kang, a researcher at Shinhan Investment Corp., explained, "Alteogen fell as much as -20.4% intraday due to rumors related to the ALT-B4 patent lawsuit and RCPS issuance, but closed at -1.1% thanks to the expansion of shares by the second largest shareholder. Since supply and demand are thin and investor sentiment is weak, the market is vulnerable to rumors."