Kospi inches down after two record sessions
The dip in the market came even after Samsung Electronics reported its all-time record quarterly performance. Even market bellwether Samsung saw its’ shares dip from an all-time high recorded on Thursday to close 1.46 percent lower at 2,700,000 won ($2,390).
The Korea Exchange, the sole operator of the Korean stock market, cited foreign investors, who have been net buyers for the last four consecutive trading days, turning to net sellers on Friday.
Foreign investors net sold 34.9 billion won whereas institutional investors were net buyers as they bought 109.7 billion won of shares. Retail investors continued to sell off their shares amounting to 113.7 billion won.
Foreign investors sold off the most shares in pharmaceutical companies, worth 49.2 billion won. But electric and electronics shares that they have been collecting in recent trades came close at 41.5 billion won worth of shares sold off.
Other than Samsung Electronics, the top shares by market capitalization all saw their value drop except for leading steel maker Posco, which saw its shares increase 3.83 percent from Thursday to close at 325,000 won.
SK Hynix saw its’ share value decline 2.71 percent to close at 86,100 won and Korea’s leading automotive company Hyundai Motor fell 1.28 percent to 154,500 won.
The secondary Kosdaq, which has been on the upswing in the last four consecutive trading days, also turned around, closing half a percent lower than on Thursday at 663.08, largely due to institutional investors selling off to profit from the recent hike.
Celltrion, No.1 by market capitalization on the secondary market, saw its shares rose 9.09 percent to close at 169,300 won. Celltrion shareholders’ last month agreed to move the stock onto the main Kospi. The relocation is expected to be completed in February.
Meanwhile the local currency closed at 1,128.90 won against the U.S. dollar, up 4.3 won from the previous session’s close.
Bond prices, which move inversely to yields, closed lower. The yield on three-year Treasurys rose 1.6 basis points to 1.916 percent and the return on the benchmark five-year government bonds added 0.6 basis point to 2.117 percent.
BY LEE HO-JEONG, YONHAP [lee.hojeong@joongang.co.kr]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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