Kospi loses 1.24% as investors move to lock in gains

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Kospi loses 1.24% as investors move to lock in gains

A broker stands under a screen showing market close at a Hana Bank trading room in Seoul on Jan. 23. [YONHAP]

A broker stands under a screen showing market close at a Hana Bank trading room in Seoul on Jan. 23. [YONHAP]

 
Korean stocks closed over 1 percent lower Thursday as investors took profit following strong gains in the previous session despite an overnight rally on Wall Street. The local currency gained against the U.S. dollar.
 
The Kopsi dropped 31.57 points, or 1.24 percent, to close at 2,515.49.
 
Trade volume was moderate at 594.7 million shares worth 9.7 trillion won ($6.751 billion), with decliners beating gainers 696 to 190.
 
Institutions and foreign investors unloaded a net 820 billion won combined, while retail investors purchased a net 757.8 billion won.
 
Overnight, U.S. stocks were buoyed by optimism surrounding joint artificial intelligence (AI) investments by OpenAI, Oracle and SoftBank that were touted by President Donald Trump.
 
The S&P 500 rose 0.61 percent, reaching its highest level in over a month, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average and Nasdaq climbed 0.30 percent and 1.28 percent, respectively.
 
Analysts said the sell-off in Korea was likely prompted by strong gains in the previous session. On Wednesday, the Kospi rose 1.15 percent to reach a two-month high on eased U.S. tariff concerns.
 
Han Ji-young, an analyst at Kiwoom Securities, said investors also seem to have adjusted their investment portfolios ahead of the extended Lunar New Year holiday, starting Saturday.
 
In Seoul, most shares lost ground, led by losses among chipmakers.
 
Samsung Electronics plummeted 1.1 percent to 53,700 won, while SK hynix plunged 2.66 percent to 219,500 won despite having reported stellar earnings before the opening of the market.
 
Shipbuilders and steelmakers also retreated. Posco Holdings fell 1.7 percent to 259,500 won and Hanwha Ocean slipped 2.65 percent to 51,500 won.
 
Bio-related shares, meanwhile, advanced, with Samsung Biologics surging 3.85 percent to 1,053,000 won after reporting record earnings in the previous session.
 
The local currency was trading at 1,437.3 won against the U.S. dollar at 3:30 p.m., down 0.3 won from the previous session.
 
Bond prices, which move inversely to yields, closed lower. Three-year government bond yields rose 0.2 basis points to 2.579 percent, while the return on the benchmark 10-year U.S. government bonds rose by 2.9 basis points to 4.612 percent.
 

BY PARK EUN-JEE, YONHAP [[email protected]]
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