KOSPI Closes Down 3% as Foreign and Institutional Selling Intensifies

The KOSDAQ also fell 3%, to the 780-point level.

The KOSPI fell 3% on Oct. 20, closing lower as foreign and institutional investors sold shares. The KOSDAQ also dropped 3%, leaving the broader stock market weaker.

The KOSPI closed at 5,552.74 on the Korea Exchange, down 3.73% from the previous session. It opened at 5,733.37 but extended its losses during the session.

Yonhap News Agency

The decline was driven by net selling from foreign investors, who sold KRW 530 billion worth of shares, and institutional investors, who sold KRW 1.0048 trillion worth. Individual investors bought KRW 898.1 billion worth of KOSPI shares.

All sectors declined. Transportation equipment and parts posted the steepest drop, at 6.61%, followed by medical and precision instruments at 6.43%, chemicals at 6.14%, metals at 5.96%, machinery and equipment at 5.09%, manufacturing at 4.00%, construction at 3.75%, and securities at 3.56%.

All the top stocks by market capitalization also fell, including Samsung Electronics, down 2.98%; SK hynix, down 4.23%; SK Square, down 5.00%; LG Energy Solution, down 4.17%; Samsung Electro-Mechanics, down 1.28%; Samsung Biologics, down 2.52%; Hyundai Motor, down 4.91%; KB Financial Group, down 1.11%; and Samsung Life Insurance, down 3.07%.

The KOSDAQ also closed at 781.97, down 3.33%. Individual investors were net buyers of KRW 294.2 billion worth of shares, while foreign investors sold KRW 183.8 billion worth and institutional investors sold KRW 110.6 billion worth.

Among the KOSDAQ's top stocks by market capitalization, HLB rose 0.12%. The following stocks fell: Alteogen, down 3.35%; EcoPro, down 7.74%; EcoPro BM, down 9.15%; Jusung Engineering, down 5.44%; Rainbow Robotics, down 1.72%; EO Technics, down 3.77%; Leeno Industrial, down 2.74%; Wonik IPS, down 4.88%; and Sam Chun Dang Pharm, down 2.61%.

Han Ji-young, a researcher at Kiwoom Securities, cited several factors behind the domestic market's decline: continued uncertainty over AI stocks' credit and investment cycle stemming from CoreWeave; doubts about semiconductor companies' future earnings and profitability; investor caution ahead of Meta's earnings report due later in the week; and the won's fall below the 1,330-won-per-dollar level, partly due to exporters' dollar-selling activity.

"To turn around this weakened investor sentiment, we ultimately need catalysts such as a widespread view that stock prices have fallen enough and a resolution of doubts surrounding the earnings of leading stocks," Han said. "Alternatively, as the government has suggested, it is now necessary to introduce measures to stabilize supply and demand in the stock market."

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