Stocks drop over concerns about China, U.S.
The Korean won depreciated against the dollar. The benchmark Kospi fell 11.05 points, or 0.53 percent, to 2,064.52.
Trading volume was moderate at 427.92 million shares worth 4.87 trillion won ($4.34 billion).
Foreigners bought a net 94.9 billion won worth of stocks and individuals bought a net 73 biliion worth of stocks. On the other hand, institutional investors sold a net 178.5 billion worth of shares.
“Fears have risen over potential impacts of the ongoing shutdown of the U.S. government, not only on the U.S. [economy,] but on the global economy,” said Seo Sang-young, an expert at Kiwoom Securities.
Most big-cap shares on the Seoul bourse lost ground, with tech firms leading the fall. Market bellwether Samsung Electronics lost 1.11 percent to close at 40,050 won, and major chipmaker SK Hynix sank 4.61 percent to end at 62,100 won.
Korea’s No. 1 automaker Hyundai Motor decreased 1.22 percent to 121,500 won, and its sister company Kia Motors declined 0.44 percent to 33,800 won. Auto-parts maker Hyundai Mobis ended 0.76 percent lower at 195,000 won.
Top steelmaker Posco retreated 2.15 percent to 250,000 won. State-run electric utility Kepco remained unchanged to 34,700 won. Top-cap bio shares and mobile carriers finished mixed. Pharmaceutical giant Celltrion skidded 2.54 percent to 211,000 won, while Samsung BioLogics advanced 1.90 percent to 403,000 won.
Telecommunications giant SK Telecom rose 1.33 percent to 267,000 won, and LG U+ rose 0.30 percent to 16,800 won. KT declined 0.34 percent to 29,200 won.
Leading oil refiners ended mixed as well, as SK Innovation retreated 0.44 percent to 33,800 won and S-Oil rose 0.20 percent to 98,200 won.
The secondary Kosdaq fell 3.24 points, or 0.47 percent, to end the session at 683.09.
The tech and bio-heavy index was dragged down by foreign and institutional selling of pharmaceutical and IT shares and a 0.2-percent fall in the U.S. Nasdaq Composite Index Friday. The Korean won closed at 1,123.0 won against the dollar, down 6.6 won from the previous session’s close.
Bond prices, which move inversely to yields, ended higher. The yield on three-year bonds fell 0.7 basis points to 1.80 percent. The return on 10-year bonds fell 1.9 basis points to 1.97 percent.
BY KIM HEYU, YONHAP [kim.heyu@joongang.co.kr]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
To write comments, please log in to one of the accounts.
Standards Board Policy (0/250자)