Volatile Korean Stock Market... Both Indexes Close Slightly Lower

Foreign Investors Sell Over One Trillion Won
SK hynix Drops 4.9%

Yonhap News Agency

On August 7, the KOSPI and KOSDAQ indexes, which both opened more than 1% higher, ultimately closed slightly lower despite heightened intraday volatility.

On this day, the KOSPI closed at 6,258.77, down 0.60% from the previous day. Although it opened 1.09% higher and expanded its gains to nearly 2%, it soon reversed into negative territory. At around 10:41 a.m., the decline deepened to over 2%, bringing the index down to 6,158.73.

Following a massive net sale of 3.8439 trillion won by foreign investors the previous day, foreigners continued to be net sellers, offloading 1.184 trillion won on this day as well. In contrast, retail investors and institutions posted net purchases of 442.8 billion won and 724.1 billion won, respectively.

By industry, the declines were sharpest in securities (-2.41%), construction (-2.07%), insurance (-1.79%), telecommunications (-1.72%), IT services (-1.61%), and electrical & electronics (-1.29%). On the other hand, chemicals (4.37%), food, beverage & tobacco (3.34%), pharmaceuticals (2.27%), and entertainment & culture (2.04%) all rose by more than 2%.

The top 10 KOSPI stocks by market capitalization saw a stark divergence in performance. SK hynix (-4.9%), Samsung Life Insurance (-4.1%), SK Square (-3.0%), and Hyundai Motor (-1.5%) declined, while Samsung Electro-Mechanics (4.6%), LG Energy Solution (3.9%), Hanwha Aerospace (3.1%), Samsung Biologics (2.3%), KB Financial Group (2.3%), and Samsung Electronics (0.2%) ended higher.

The KOSDAQ also ended the regular session down 0.36% from the previous day, closing at 798.81. After opening higher and surging as much as 1.64% to 814.80, it also reversed course and trended downward, at one point expanding the loss to more than 3% compared to the previous session.

In the KOSDAQ market, foreign investors were net sellers of 295.8 billion won, and institutions sold 104.7 billion won. Individuals were net buyers of 381.2 billion won.

More industries declined than advanced. Machinery & equipment (-3.20%), non-metallic materials (-2.65%), transportation equipment & parts (-0.89%), manufacturing (-0.78%), and telecommunications (-0.75%) suffered the largest drops. Meanwhile, paper & wood (8.30%), financials (1.75%), entertainment & culture (1.34%), and metals (1.25%) recorded gains.

Among the top 10 KOSDAQ stocks by market capitalization, gainers outnumbered decliners. HLB (5.2%), EcoPro BM (3.9%), Alteogen (3.2%), ABL Bio (3.2%), EcoPro (2.0%), and Peptron (1.4%) advanced. Rainbow Robotics (-5.5%), Wonik IPS (-4.6%), Jusung Engineering (-4.2%), and LIG Nex1 (-1.3%) declined.

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