Kospi losing streak stretches into Day 4
The benchmark Kospi closed at 2,319.71, down 39.76 points, or 1.69 percent, from the previous trading day, and extended its losing streak for the fourth consecutive day.
Foreign investors offloaded 649.8 billion won ($568.3 million) in shares, and retail investors sold 64.9 billion won
“Tensions between North Korea and the United States are partly to blame for the decline in the main index,” said Ryu Yong-seok, a market analyst at KB Securities.
His comments came in response to North Korea’s threat to fire ballistic missiles toward the U.S. territory of Guam, which is home to U.S. strategic bombers, a naval station and other strategic assets. Most large-cap stocks fell across the board. Market bellwether Samsung Electronics backtracked 2.79 percent to 2,231,000 won, and No. 2 chipmaker SK Hynix was down 4.66 percent to 61,400 won. Top automaker Hyundai Motor fell 2.07 percent to 142,000 won.
Steelmaker Posco dropped 4.8 percent to 317,000 won and KB Financial Group fell 2.76 percent to 56,400 won. Samsung SDS lost 1.99 percent to 172,500 won and Hyundai Heavy Industries fell 2.88 percent to 168,500 won.
The secondary Kosdaq closed at 628.34, down 11.7 points, or 1.83 percent, from the previous trading day. This was the first time in three months that the index dropped below the 630-level. Celltrion fell 3.44 percent to 104,000 won and CJ E&M dropped 3.22 percent to 69,100 won.
The local currency closed at 1,143.50 won against the U.S. dollar, down 1.50 won from the previous session’s close.
Bond prices, which move inversely to yields, closed higher. The yield on three-year Treasuries fell 2.0 basis points to 1.804 percent and the return on benchmark five-year government bonds shed 2.0 basis points to 2.004 percent.
BY KIM YOUNG-NAM, YONHAP [kim.youngnam@joongang.co.kr]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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