Foreign Capital Outflow Amid Interest Rate and Dollar Rebound... KOSPI and KOSDAQ Close Lower

On the 23rd, the domestic stock market closed lower as foreign investors continued to sell, with both the KOSPI and KOSDAQ indices ending down.

The KOSPI index closed at 2,515.49, down 31.57 points (1.24%) from the previous day. Trading volume was 491.43 million shares, and the trading value was approximately 7.8446 trillion KRW.

On the afternoon of the 23rd, the KOSPI, won/dollar exchange rate, and KOSDAQ index, which closed trading that day, are displayed on the screen of Hana Bank dealing room in Jung-gu, Seoul. Photo by Yonhap News

On this day, the KOSPI index started off in a downward trend. This was due to foreign investors, who had been net buyers amid the previous day's decline in interest rates and the dollar index, switching to net selling as both interest rates and the dollar rebounded.

By investor type, foreign investors sold a net 618.1 billion KRW, institutions sold a net 202.1 billion KRW, while individuals bought a net 757.7 billion KRW.

Most sectors declined. Except for Paper & Wood (2.38%), Pharmaceuticals (1.29%), Construction (0.38%), and Telecommunications (0.36%), all other sectors fell.

Among the top market capitalization stocks, performance was mixed. Samsung Electronics fell 1.10%, SK Hynix dropped 2.66%, and LG Energy Solution declined 1.81%. Meanwhile, Samsung Biologics rose 3.85%, Hyundai Motor increased 0.24%, and Naver went up 0.25%.

The KOSDAQ index also closed lower. It ended the day at 724.01, down 8.30 points (1.13%) from the previous day. By investor type, foreign investors and institutions sold a net 98.1 billion KRW and 22.9 billion KRW respectively, while individuals bought a net 131.6 billion KRW.

Among the top market capitalization stocks on KOSDAQ, performance was mixed. Alteogen rose 1.46%, EcoPro BM increased 0.46%, HBL went up 1.01%, and RICAGem Bio also gained 1.01%. On the other hand, EcoPro fell 2.86%, Rainbow Robotics dropped 1.98%, Rino Industrial declined 2.28%, and Hugel decreased 3.63%.

Meanwhile, as of 3:50 PM, the USD/KRW exchange rate in the Seoul foreign exchange market was trading at 1,438 KRW, up 1.0 KRW from the previous day.

Lee Jaewon, a researcher at Shinhan Investment Corp., explained, “Interest rates and the dollar index, which had calmed the previous day due to tariff suspension expectations, rebounded amid ongoing considerations of tariff imposition by China and others.” He added, “It is necessary to pay attention to the rebound in interest rates and the dollar influenced by Trump’s impact, fluctuations based on corporate earnings, and whether the Bank of Japan will raise interest rates.”