Uncertainty from the US... Both Markets Open Down 1%

Early Morning Losses Widen
Foreign and Institutional Investors Turn to Selling

Both the KOSPI and KOSDAQ opened with declines of around 1%. This is interpreted as a result of heightened uncertainty due to escalating tensions between the United States and Iran.

On June 23, the KOSPI started at 2,992.20, down 0.98% from the previous trading day. The index continued to widen its losses in early trading, falling to the 2,980 level.

Both foreign investors and institutions are net sellers. They sold 262.6 billion won and 120.5 billion won worth of shares, respectively. Only individual investors showed net buying, with purchases totaling 440.6 billion won.

Most sectors are declining. Several sectors fell by more than 1.5%, including medical precision instruments (-2.76%), electrical and electronics (-2.65%), pharmaceuticals (-1.87%), transportation equipment (-1.79%), manufacturing (-1.75%), and securities (-1.72%). However, machinery and equipment (2.85%) and transportation and storage (1.38%) rose.

Most of the top 10 stocks by market capitalization are also declining. Hyundai Motor posted the largest drop at -4.0%, followed by LG Energy Solution (-3.9%), SK Hynix (-2.9%), Samsung Electronics (-2.7%), HD Hyundai Heavy Industries (-1.9%), Samsung Biologics (-1.8%), and KB Financial Group (-0.1%). On the other hand, Doosan Enerbility rose sharply by 5.3%. NAVER (0.5%) and Hanwha Aerospace (0.2%) showed modest gains.

The KOSDAQ's decline was even steeper. It opened at 779.67, down 1.50% from the previous trading day.

In the KOSDAQ market, foreign investors and institutions were also net sellers, with net sales of 38.7 billion won and 3.3 billion won, respectively. Only individual investors were net buyers, purchasing 56.0 billion won worth of shares.

Almost all sectors are declining. A significant number of sectors fell by more than 2%, including electrical and electronics (-2.52%), machinery and equipment (-2.50%), finance (-2.39%), chemicals (-2.20%), and non-metallic minerals (-2.18%). Only a few sectors, such as publishing and media replication (0.57%) and distribution (0.20%), showed modest gains.

Most of the top 10 stocks by market capitalization are also falling. Ecopro BM posted the largest drop at -5.1%, followed by Ecopro (-4.4%), HLB (-3.5%), Alteogen (-3.3%), Peptron (-3.2%), Rainbow Robotics (-1.9%), and Classys (-0.8%). Only Pharmaresearch (2.5%), Hugel (0.5%), and Samchundang Pharm (0.1%) rose.