Stocks finish slightly down amid inflation woes

Finance

Published: 03 May. 2022, 17:16

Stocks finish slightly down amid inflation woes

A screen in Hana Bank's trading room in central Seoul shows the Kospi closing at 2,680.46 points on Tuesday, down 6.99 points, or 0.26 percent, from the previous trading day. [YONHAP]

Stocks finished slightly lower Tuesday amid inflation woes and uncertainty over this week's U.S. Federal Reserve meeting. The won fell against the dollar.

The Kospi retreated 6.99 points, or 0.26 percent, to close at 2,680.46.

Trading volume was moderate at about 869 million shares worth some 9 trillion won ($7.1 billion), with losers outnumbering gainers 475 to 368.

Institutions and foreigners offloaded a net 180.7 billion won and 69.0 billion won, respectively, while retail investors bought a net 225.0 billion won.

The market started in positive terrain, but gains were lost in the last trading hours as investors remained wary ahead of the Fed's monetary policy-setting meeting Wednesday.

The Fed is widely expected to raise interest rates by half a percentage point, embarking on a rapid series of aggressive rate increases to tame runaway inflation.

Investors also digested Korea's fresh inflation data, which showed consumer prices hiked 4.8 percent on-year in April, the fastest pace in more than 13 years, due to soaring energy costs caused by Russia's war with Ukraine and a rebound in demand from the pandemic.

"The market retreated in line with other Asian stocks ahead of the Federal Open Market Committee meeting," Lee Woong-chan, an analyst at HI Investment & Securities, said. "Investors are taking a wait-and-see approach until uncertainties are cleared."

Samsung Electronics edged up 0.3 percent to 67,500 won, and internet portal operator Naver gained 0.36 percent to 282,000 won.

Chipmaker SK hynix shed 0.45 percent to 110,000 won, Samsung Biologics lost 0.72 percent to close at 832,000 won, and LG Energy Solution shed 0.24 percent to 407,500 won.

The local currency closed at 1,267.80 won against the dollar, up 2.7 won from the previous session.

The Kosdaq gained 5.75 points, or 0.64 percent, to close at 907.57 points.

Bond prices, which move inversely to yields, closed lower. The yield on three-year government bonds gained 12.2 basis points to 3.080 percent, and the yield on the benchmark 10-year government bond added 10.7 basis points to 2.93 percent.

BY CHO JUNG-WOO, YONHAP [cho.jungwoo1@joongang.co.kr]