Foreign Investors' "Sell" Sends KOSPI Below 5,500; KOSDAQ Falls 3.2%

KOSPI: Foreign investors net sell 697.2 billion won
"Watch AI investment returns, semiconductor outlook, and the interest rate path"

South Korea's stock market ended lower on the 26th amid foreign selling. The KOSPI fell more than 1%, while the KOSDAQ plunged more than 3%.

The KOSPI closed at 5,469.47, down 80.83 points (1.46%) from the previous trading day. It opened at 5,499.05, down 51.25 points (0.92%) from the previous session, and fluctuated before ultimately ending lower. Foreign investors were net sellers of 697.2 billion won, dragging the index down. Institutional and individual investors were net buyers of 604.7 billion won and 53.8 billion won, respectively.

On the 26th, the KOSPI opened lower, falling below the 5,500 mark. A display board in the dealing room at Hana Bank's headquarters in Jung-gu, Seoul, shows the KOSPI and KOSDAQ indexes. Photo by Cho Yongjun

Most large-cap stocks fell. HD Hyundai Heavy Industries (-5.41%), Hanwha Aerospace (-4.42%), KB Financial Group (-3.79%), Doosan Enerbility (-3.20%), Hana Financial Group (-3.10%), Shinhan Financial Group (-3.06%), Hyundai Motor (-2.88%), Celltrion (-2.47%), Samsung Electronics (Preferred) (-2.20%), LG Energy Solution (-2.09%), Kia (-1.68%), Samsung SDI (-1.53%), Samsung Biologics (-1.43%), Samsung Electronics (-1.16%), SK Square (-0.77%), and Samsung Electro-Mechanics (-0.53%) all declined. By contrast, Samsung C&T (1.04%) and Samsung Life Insurance (0.41%) ended higher.

The KOSDAQ closed at 727.21, down 24.48 points (3.26%) from the previous trading day, marking its third consecutive session of losses. It opened at 742.17, down 9.52 points (1.27%) from the previous session, then extended its losses significantly. Institutional investors led the decline with net sales of 127.9 billion won. Individual and foreign investors were net buyers of 85.4 billion won and 39.1 billion won, respectively.

Most of the KOSDAQ's largest companies by market capitalization plunged. PSK Holdings (-9.35%), PSK (-7.40%), Jusung Engineering (-6.84%), EO Technics (-6.68%), TSE (-6.61%), Wonik IPS (-6.49%), SIMMTECH (-6.08%), Peptron (-5.93%), HPSP (-5.87%), Sam Chun Dang Pharm (-5.57%), HLB (-5.41%), ISC (-5.26%), and LigaChem Biosciences (-5.13%) posted steep losses. However, ROBOTIS surged 9.78% after news that it had signed a contract to supply 750,000 actuators for small robots to a French robotics company.

Lim Jeong-eun, a researcher at KB Securities, said, "This week, major events include monetary policy meetings by major economies, including the U.S. Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), the release of the U.S. Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) price index for September, and earnings reports from major companies such as SK hynix, Samsung Electronics, Alphabet, and Microsoft." She added, "Investors should watch whether expectations for returns on artificial intelligence (AI) investment and improving semiconductor industry conditions continue, and how the future path of interest rates unfolds."

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