Stocks finish lower Monday as investors remain cautious about U.S. monetary policy direction

Finance

Published: 12 Dec. 2022, 16:39

Stocks finish lower Monday as investors remain cautious about U.S. monetary policy direction

A screen in Hana Bank's trading room in central Seoul shows the Kospi closing at 2,373.02 points on Monday, down 16.02 points, or 0.67 percent, from the previous trading day. [YONHAP]

Stocks finished lower Monday as investors remained cautious about the United States' monetary policy direction ahead of a rate-setting meeting amid deepening recession fears. The local currency fell against the dollar.

The benchmark Kospi lost 16.02 points, or 0.67 percent, to close at 2,373.02.

Trading volume was a bit light at 489.54 million shares worth 5.72 trillion won ($4.37 billion), with decliners outstripping gainers 486 to 363.

Institutions sold a net 44.3 billion won and retail investors a net 0.4 billion won worth of shares, while foreigners bought a net 18.1 billion won.

The market opened lower and had been under heavy downward pressure, as investors were awaiting key U.S. inflation data and the Federal Reserve's rate-setting meeting.

The Federal Reserve is widely expected to downshift to a 50-basis point hike from its previous 75 basis point increases after a two-day rate-setting meeting set to start Tuesday.

In Seoul, most major stocks lost ground, with big-cap tech shares hit harder.

Samsung Electronics shed 1.49 percent to 59,500 won, and SK hynix lost 0.49 percent to 81,100 won on gloomy forecast for their fourth-quarter performance.

LG Energy Solutions dropped 2.52 percent to 502,000 won.

Bio shares also lost ground, with Samsung Biologics decreasing 1.45 percent to 815,000 won and Celltrion falling 2.22 percent to 176,500 won.

Naver lost 1.03 percent to 193,000 won, and Kakao remained flat at 58,100 won.

Carmakers ended mixed. Hyundai Motor went up 0.62 percent to 163,500 won, while its affiliate Kia inched down 0.15 percent to 65,100 won.

Among gainers, LG Chem increased 0.16 percent to 628,000 won and Samsung SDI jumped 0.78 percent to 650,000 won.

The won ended at 1,307.2 won against the dollar, up 5.9 won from the previous session's close.

The Kosdaq lost 4.27 points, or 0.59 percent, to close at 715.22 points.

Bond prices, which move inversely to yields, remained flat. The yield on three-year government bonds stayed at 3.623 percent, and the yield on 10-year government bonds at 3.449 percent.

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