Foreigners end their spree, Kospi falls
The benchmark Kospi shed 10.35 points, or 0.50 percent, to close at 2,076.79.
Foreign investors ended their purchasing rally since the first trading day of 2017 and offloaded shares worth 108.4 billion won ($92.1 million). Individual investors contributed to the fall, net selling 59.2 billion won in shares. Institutional investors, who have been cautious about buying recently, turned around and scooped up 162.5 billion won in stock to halt a further decline of the index.
“Investors offloaded IT and chemical shares that spearheaded the recent increases in the local market as they sought to cash in their gains,” Hyundai Securities analyst Bae Sung-young said.
Market bellwether Samsung Electronics dropped 3.45 percent, or 67,000 won to close at 1,873,000 won on the news at Lee Jae-yong, de factor head of Samsung, might be arrested for his involvement in the influence-peddling scandal involving President Park Geun-hye and her confidante Choi Soon-sil.
“[Investors] especially dumped large quantities of IT shares. It appears the news of special prosecutors considering the possible arrest of Samsung Electronics vice chairman Lee Jae-yong may have negatively affected investors’ sentiment,” Bae of Hyundai added.
SK Hynix also inched down 0.59 percent to close at 50,300 won while Naver, the nation’s portal giant, saw its share price decrease 1.50 percent to 790,000 won. LG Chemicals followed the trend and climbed down 0.70 percent to 283,000 won.
Automakers, however, did well Friday. Top automaker Hyundai Motors inched up 0.68 percent to 149,000 won and its affiliate and auto part manufacturer Hyundai Mobis nudged up 0.18 percent to 279,500 won. Kia Motors stayed fixed.
The secondary Kosdaq witnessed a slight rise on Friday, up 1.81 points, or 0.29 percent, to 634.68, with shares across the board going up.
The local currency weakened 0.8 percent to 1,174.7 won against the dollar.
BY CHOI HYUNG-JO, YONHAP [choi.hyungjo@joongang.co.kr]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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