Kospi falls despite gains by electronics makers
The benchmark Kospi lost 8.31 points, or 0.35 percent, to 2,380.40, extending its losing streak to a fifth day.
Foreign investors offloaded shares worth more than 33.6 billion won ($29.6 million) and institutions sold more than 47.8 billion won.
Retail investors net bought $40.5 billion won.
Park Chun-young, an analyst at Daishin Securities, said the decline is blamed on the tensions between North Korea and the United States, and the profit-taking ahead of a long holiday next week.
Korea’s stock markets will be closed from Oct. 2 to Oct. 9 as people celebrate the Chuseok holidays.
By sector, banking fell 3.3 percent while food and beverage dropped by 2.8 percent. Securities retreated 2.8 percent while construction also saw a 2.5 percent drop.
Most large-cap stocks were mixed across the board.
Market bellwether Samsung Electronics gained 1.17 percent to 2,681,000 won, and No. 2 chipmaker SK Hynix was up 3.85 percent to 86,300 won. Leading steelmaker Posco went up by 0.33 percent to 307,500 won.
Battery makers were in positive terrain.
LG Chem gained 2.85 percent to 10,500 won. Samsung SDI went up by 3.60 percent to 216,000 won. Another battery maker and oil refiner SK Innovation increased 1.61 percent to 189,500 won.
Auto part maker Hyundai Mobis inched up 0.92 percent to 220,000 won.
On the other hand, top auto company Hyundai Motor saw its share price down by 0.7 percent to 141,000 won while its sister company Kia Motors lost 0.66 percent to 30,200 won.
KB Financial Group dropped by 2.98 percent to 55,400 won. Hana Financial Group retreated 3.09 percent to 48,550 won.
Naver, the operator of Korea’s top Internet portal, lost 1.31 percent to 754,000 won.
The local currency closed at 1,131.80 won against the U.S. dollar, up 4.70 won from the previous session’s close.
The yield on three-year government bond inched up 1 basis point to 1.79 percent. The yield on 10-year government bond stayed fixed to 2.27 percent.
BY KANG JIN-KYU, YONHAP [kang.jinkyu@joongang.co.kr]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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