Seoul stocks drop 1.71 percent after FOMC meeting

A screen in Hana Bank's trading room in central Seoul shows the Kospi closing at 3,069.05 points on Thursday, down 53.51 points, or 1.71 percent, from the previous trading day. [YONHAP]

Stocks dipped almost 2 percent Thursday on massive foreign selling, generated by the results of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting. The won fell against the dollar.

The benchmark Kospi fell 53.51 points, or 1.71 percent, to close at 3,069.05 points.

Trading volume was moderate at about 1.3 billion shares worth around 22.7 trillion won ($20.3 billion), with losers outnumbering gainers 768 to 114.

Foreigners sold a net 1.6 trillion won and institutions offloaded a net 382 billion won, while retail investors purchased a net 1.9 trillion won.

Foreign selling increased as the U.S. Fed did not announce new measures to quicken the economic recovery, analysts said.

"Investors have paid keen attention to concerns of China's monetary tapering and the results of the [U.S.] FOMC meeting results," Kiwoom Securities analyst Seo Sang-young said.

"The FOMC reassured that it is too early to discuss tapering, but investors seemed to have anticipated more than just the comments on recovery signals," he added.

Investors' profit taking rush during the earnings report season also drove the Kospi down.

Major blue chips in Seoul fell.

Samsung Electronics lost 2.22 percent to 83,700 won and SK hynix dipped 4.28 percent to 123,000 won.

Samsung Biologics dropped 1.3 percent to 838,000 won, but Celltrion gained 1.67 percent to 334,500 won.

Automaker Hyundai Motor declined 2.85 percent to 238,500 won and Kia lost 2 percent to close at 88,200 won. Auto parts maker Hyundai Mobis rose 0.76 percent to 331,000 won.

Chemical company LG Chem moved up 1.08 percent to 938,000 won and steelmaker Posco dropped 3.66 percent to 250,000 won.

Naver jumped 3.95 percent to 355,000 won, but its rival Kakao fell 1.51 percent to 458,000 won.

The Kosdaq also dropped by 24.69 points, or 2.5 percent to close at 961.23.

The local currency closed at 1,119.6 won against the dollar, up 15.2 won from the previous session's close.

Bond prices, which move inversely to yields, closed higher. The return on the three-year bond lost 0.5 basis points to close at 0.977 percent, and the return on the 10-year bond declined 2.4 basis points to close at 1.01 percent.

BY CHEA SARAH, YONHAP [chea.sarah@joongang.co.kr]