KOSPI Closes Down Nearly 4% on Oil Price and Bond Yield Concerns

Despite Net Buying by Retail Investors,
Foreigners and Institutions Sell Off
KOSDAQ Also Drops Over 2%

The KOSPI index declined due to the burden of rising international oil prices and government bond yields. The KOSDAQ also closed down, with a drop of more than 2%.

On September 2 at the Korea Exchange, the KOSPI index closed at 6,562.72, down 3.99% from the previous session. After opening 3.08% lower, the KOSPI partially recovered its losses briefly, but largely maintained its downward trend and ended the day with a decline of nearly 4%.

Foreign investors and institutions recorded net sales of 1.9094 trillion won and 2.0434 trillion won, respectively. Meanwhile, retail investors were net buyers, purchasing a net 2.3023 trillion won.

By industry, all sectors declined except for medical and precision equipment, which rose 0.97%. Transportation equipment and parts fell 5.34%, followed by electric and electronics (-4.34%), machinery and equipment (-4.32%), manufacturing (-4.19%), and distribution (-4%).

Among large-cap stocks by market capitalization, most declined except for Meritz Financial Group, which rose 3.5%. Posco Future M dropped 8%, SK Square fell 7.9%, HD Hyundai Electric was down 7.5%, Doosan and SK each declined 7%, HD Hyundai Heavy Industries fell 6.8%, and HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering dropped 6.7%. Samsung Electronics and SK hynix were down by 4% and 4.7%, respectively.

As tensions between the U.S. and Iran escalated again, the New York stock market fell for the third consecutive trading day, and the domestic KOSPI also started down by over 3%. On September 2, 2026, employees were monitoring the stock market and exchange rates at the dealing room of Hana Bank headquarters in Jung-gu, Seoul. On that day, KOSPI opened at 6,625.47, down 210.33 points (3.08%) from the previous close, while KOSDAQ started at 797.73, down 23.52 points (2.86%). Photo by Jo Yongjun

The KOSDAQ finished at 803.98, down 2.1% from the previous session. After opening at 802.8—down 2.25%—the KOSDAQ index managed to pare back some of its losses.

Foreign investors and retail investors were net buyers, buying 61.7 billion won and 172.7 billion won, respectively, while institutional investors sold a net 232 billion won.

Among top market cap stocks, performances were mixed. Seojin System declined 9.2%; Ecopro BM fell 7%; Caregen dropped 6.5%; Jeju Semiconductor was down 6.2%; Ecopro declined 5.9%; and SPG was down 5.5%. In contrast, ISC rose 8.5%, while TSE gained 4.9%, TCK added 2.4%, Voronoi advanced 2.1%, and EO Technics rose 2%.

Kyungmin Lee, a researcher at Daishin Securities, said, "With rising government bond yields and international oil prices, risk aversion sentiment increased, leading foreign and institutional investors to sell off and pull the index below the 6,600 level, resulting in a weak market trend."

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