Stocks slide after two days of gains

Screens in Hana Bank's trading room in central Seoul show the Kospi closing at 2591.31 points on Monday, down 0.92 percent, or 24 points, from the previous trading session. [NEWS1]

Stocks closed lower Monday on profit taking after recent gains. The local currency fell against the dollar.

The Kospi lost 24 points, or 0.92 percent, to 2,591.31, ending a two-day winning streak.

Trade volume was heavy at 500.2 million shares worth 12.1 trillion won ($9.09 billion), with losers closely outnumbering winners 459 to 434.

Institutions sold a net 724.2 billion won worth of local shares to lead the decline, while foreigners scooped up a net 178.7 billion won and individuals bought 512.1 billion won.

"Foreigners have led the recent upside trend in the local financial market," Roh Dong-gil, an analyst from Shinhan Securities, said. "The recent surge made investors seek for profit."

In the previous session, the main index surged 2.87 percent on tech and auto gains.

Market heavyweights finished in negative territory, with Samsung Electronics, the largest stock in terms of market cap, declining 1.2 percent to 74,300 won and SK hynix dropping 1.93 percent to 132,300 won.

Naver sank 6.9 percent to 208,000 won and Kakao dipped 2.31 percent to 55,000 won.

Bio shares also went south as SK biopharm decreased 2.38 percent to 90,200 won and Celltrion skidded 1.68 percent to 180,900 won.

Hyundai Motor jumped 4.85 percent to 238,000 won and LG Energy Solution gained 0.39 percent to 389,000 won.

The local currency closed at 1,330.8 won against the greenback, up 8.2 won from the previous session's close.

The Kosdaq lost 6.78 points, to close at 807.99.

Bond prices, which move inversely to yields, closed lower. The yield on three-year government bonds gained 6.4 basis points to 3.312 percent, and the return on the benchmark U.S. 10-year government bonds rose 14.4 basis points to 4.021 percent.

The movement in bond pricing on Monday suggests that the market's expectation of lowering interest rates diminished, as the employment index failed to meet the target. Yonhap News reported on Monday that Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s emphasis on a careful approach to adjusting interest rates might have impacted today’s bond prices.

BY LEE SOO-JUNG, YONHAP [lee.soojung1@joongang.co.kr]