Seoul stocks fall as foreign investors cash in
The benchmark Kopsi fell 7.62 points, or 0.30 percent, to close at 2,542.95 on Friday.
The main bourse opened lower, taking a cue from overnight losses on Wall Street, as investors remained uncertain over the North American country’s tax revamp effort.
“Concerns over poor performance of U.S. shares in case of a delay in adopting corporate tax cuts is a drag on the local market,” said Seo Sang-young, a researcher from Kiwoom Securities.
Foreign investors offloaded 188.5 billion won ($168.26 million) worth of local stocks, nearly triple of what they sold during the previous session. Institutional investors and retail investors each scooped up 20.1 billion won and 131.4 billion won.
Market bellwether Samsung Electronics inched up 0.11 percent to close at 2,820,000 won. Leading steelmaker Posco rose 1.25 percent to 323,000 won and SK Telecom, Korea’s top telecommunication service provider, nudged up 0.99 percent to 256,000 won.
LG Display increased one percent to 30,200 won. Netmarble Games, Korea’s top mobile game publisher, pushed up 1.88 percent to close at 189,500 won.
Other large caps, however, were in negative terrain.
Second leading chipmaker SK Hynix shed 0.49 percent to 82,000 won. LG Chem, the top battery maker in Korea, retreated 1.81 percent to 406,500 won.
Hyundai Motor, Korea’s top automotive company, inched down 0.64 percent to 154,500 won and its sister company Kia Motors pushed down 0.71 percent to 34,750 won.
Leading oil-refiner SK Innovation tumbled 2.99 percent to 211,000 won. Cosmetic company AmorePacific fell 1.08 percent to 320,500 won and KB Financial Group, Korea’s largest financial holding company by asset by, slipped 0.52 percent to 57,400 won.
The secondary Kosdaq also fell, down 10.85 points, or 1.52 percent, compared to the previous session to close at 720.79.
The local currency closed at 1,117.10 won against the U.S. dollar, down 1.5 won from the previous session’s close.
Bond prices experienced a mixed day of trading. The yield on three-year bonds rose 1 basis point to 2.157 percent, and the return on benchmark five-year government bonds remained unchanged at 2.350 percent.
BY CHOI HYUNG-JO, YONHAP [choi.hyungjo@joongang.co.kr]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
To write comments, please log in to one of the accounts.
Standards Board Policy (0/250자)