Foreigners and Institutions Buying Only KOSPI... Divergent Trends in Korean Stock Market

Sharp Declines in Leading KOSDAQ Biotech Stocks
Foreign and Institutional Selling Drives Down Market
Only a Few Large-Cap Stocks Manage Gains Amid Broad Losses

The KOSPI closed with a slight gain, while the KOSDAQ ended nearly 2% lower. Foreign and institutional investors concentrated their buying on the KOSPI market.

On the 20th, the KOSPI closed at 2,637.10, up 0.32% from the previous day. It maintained a slightly positive range after opening at 2,648.16 and ended the session there.

Foreign and institutional demand supported the index. Foreigners and institutions net bought 548.4 billion KRW and 67.5 billion KRW respectively, while individuals net sold 702.6 billion KRW.

By sector, metals (2.36%), electrical and electronics (2.13%), and food and tobacco (1.67%) showed strength. Conversely, transportation equipment and parts (-2.61%), machinery and equipment (-2.46%), and general services (-0.79%) declined.

Among the top 10 market capitalization stocks, Samsung Electronics posted the largest gain of 2.9%. SK Hynix (2.1%), KB Financial Group (1.3%), and LG Energy Solution (1.2%) also showed strength. Hanwha Aerospace (-4.5%), Kia (-1.1%), Hyundai Motor (-0.7%), Samsung Biologics (-0.6%), and Celltrion (-0.4%) declined. NAVER closed unchanged from the previous day’s closing price.

The KOSDAQ market closed at 725.15, down 1.79% from the previous day. Like the KOSPI, it opened in a slightly positive range but selling pressure increased, widening the losses.

In the KOSDAQ market, foreigners and institutions net sold 23.1 billion KRW and 34.2 billion KRW respectively. Individuals net bought 91.3 billion KRW.

Almost all sectors showed declines. The general services sector had the largest drop at 6.22%. Several other sectors fell more than 2%, including metals (-2.86%), pharmaceuticals (-2.73%), transportation equipment and parts (-2.31%), and entertainment and culture (-2.26%). Only finance (0.57%) and distribution (0.37%) closed slightly higher.

Among the top 10 market capitalization stocks, only Classys (1.7%), Pharma Research (1.4%), EcoPro BM (0.8%), and EcoPro (0.3%) rose. Alteogen fell sharply by 10.9%. HLB (-7.6%), Ligand Chem Bio (-4.7%), Samchundang Pharm (-2.8%), and Rainbow Robotics (-2.1%) also saw relatively large declines.