KOSPI Drops Over 4% Early; Samsung Electronics and SK hynix Plunge 7%

"Possibility of Profit-Taking Sales Emerging Early in the Week"

On August 3, the KOSPI index is down by more than 4% in early trading. Shares of Samsung Electronics and SK hynix, which surged on July 31, are now plunging by over 7%.

As of around 9:15 a.m. on the same day at the Korea Exchange, the KOSPI was trading at 6,294.04, down 4.57% from the previous session.

On the 31st, the KOSPI index surged over 13% in the early session, quickly recovering to the 6,300 level as the market opened. The index is displayed on the status board in the dealing room at the Hana Bank headquarters in Jung-gu, Seoul. 2026.07.31 Photo by Dongju Yoon

Retail investors have purchased 1.7944 trillion won worth of shares, while foreign investors have sold 1.2919 trillion won and institutional investors sold 459.4 billion won, contributing to the decline in the index.

By sector, the largest decline was in textiles & apparel at -8.44%. Electrical & electronics fell by -6.43%, manufacturing by -5.33%, securities by -4.40%, distribution by -3.78%, insurance by -3.10%, machinery & equipment by -2.64%, metals by -2.59%, chemicals by -2.26%, pharmaceuticals by -2.20%, and IT services by -1.44%. Most sectors are trading lower.

The market capitalization heavyweights are also declining. Samsung Electronics is down -7.4%, SK hynix -7.2%, SK Square -2.8%, LG Energy Solution -4.5%, Samsung Biologics -2.6%, Samsung Life Insurance -5.1%, KB Financial Group -0.5%, and Samsung C&T -4.9%. On the other hand, Samsung Electro-Mechanics is up 3.7%, and Hyundai Motor is up 0.7%.

At the same time, the KOSDAQ index is trading at 707.75, down 1.67% from the previous session. As with the KOSPI, retail investors have net bought 166.7 billion won, while foreign investors have net sold 105.2 billion won and institutional investors have net sold 61.4 billion won.

Among the KOSDAQ market cap leaders, results are mixed. Alteogen is up 0.4%, Rainbow Robotics up 6.4%, ABL Bio up 1.5%, and Samchundang Pharm up 3.6%. Meanwhile, Ecopro is down -6.7%, Ecopro BM -11.5%, Jusung Engineering -2.4%, L&K Engineering -4.3%, Wonik IPS -7.1%, and HLB -1.4%.

In the market, there were expectations that the sharp rally on the previous trading day, July 31, would lead to profit-taking sales today. Ji-Young Han, a researcher at Kiwoom Securities, said, "As the index soared over 17% in a single day on the 31st, which set a record for the highest daily gain ever, there is a possibility of temporary profit-taking at the start of the week."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.