Kospi sees second day of losses on bond yield jitters

A screen in Hana Bank's trading room in central Seoul shows the Kospi closing at 3,035.46 points on Monday, down 4.07 points, or 0.13 percent from the previous trading day. [NEWS1]

Stocks lost ground for the second consecutive session Monday as investors' concerns about the increase in bond yields reduced their appetite for risky assets. The won rose against the dollar.

The benchmark Kospi fell 4.07 points, or 0.13 percent, to close at 3,035.46 points.

Trading volume was moderate at about 903 million shares worth some 13.1 trillion won ($11.6 billion), with losers outnumbering gainers 456 to 389.

Foreigners sold a net 547 billion won and institutions offloaded a net 34 billion won, while retail investors purchased a net 581 billion won.

"The combined selling spree by foreigners and institutions dragged down the Kospi, while raising the secondary Kosdaq shares," Hana Financial Investment said.

Stocks turned lower after a choppy start, due to increasing bond yield concerns over earlier-than-expected post-pandemic inflation. Last week, the yields of the 10-year U.S. Treasury finished at the highest levels in about 14 months.

Steel and machinery shares performed strongly on expectations of an increase in global demand, while chemical and bio shares slumped.

Chipmakers posted mild gains amid the Kospi's fall, backed by a 13.6 percent on-year increase in the outbound shipments of memory chips.

In Seoul, most large caps closed mixed.

Top cap Samsung Electronics edged up 0.12 percent to 82,000 won, and chipmaker SK hynix closed unchanged at 138,000 won.

Giant steelmaker Posco jumped 5.2 percent to 303,500 won, and the country’s largest automaker Hyundai Motor slipped 0.22 percent to 229,000 won.

Chemical firm LG Chem declined 3.01 percent to 805,000 won, and rechargeable battery maker Samsung SDI retreated 2.87 percent to 642,000 won.

Pharmaceutical firm Samsung Biologics gained 0.99 percent to 715,000 won, and Celltrion added 0.7 percent to 289,000 won.

Internet portal operator Naver fell 1.37 percent to 396,500 won while its rival Kakao went up 0.3 percent to 494,000 won.

The Kosdaq rose 3.27 points, or 0.34 percent to close at 955.38.

The local currency closed at 1,128.4 won against the dollar, down 2.2 won from the previous session's close.

Bond prices, which move inversely to yields, closed mixed. The yield on the three-year bond lost 1.6 basis points to close at 1.13 percent, and the yield on the 10-year bond added 1.4 basis points to close at 1.72 percent.

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