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Kospi shares snap 3-day rise ahead of Fed rate decision

Published: 26 Jan. 2026, 17:39

A screen in Hana Bank's trading room in central Seoul shows the Kospi and Kosdaq indexes closing at 4,949.59 and 1,064.41 points, respectively, on Jan. 26, 2026. [YONHAP]

Shares closed lower Monday to snap three consecutive days of rise ahead of a U.S. rate-setting meeting, with investors sitting on the sidelines amid geopolitical uncertainties in Iran.

The won sharply gained against the dollar, and the tech-laden Kosdaq surged by more than 7 percent to land above 1,000 for the first time in more than four years

The benchmark Kospi fell 40.48 points, or 0.81 percent, to close at 4,949.59.

The Kospi has been enjoying decent gains this year while moving above the 5,000-point threshold since Thursday last week, although the index has not yet closed above the mark.

Trade volume was moderate at 438 million shares worth 22.5 trillion won ($15.6 billion), with winners far outpacing losers 502 to 391.

Institutions and foreigners sold 158.4 billion won and 1.54 trillion won, respectively, while individuals bought a net 1.71 billion won.

Analysts said investors took a wait-and-see approach to this week's events, such as the Federal Reserve's rate decision and the release of fourth-quarter earnings by major firms, including Samsung Electronics and SK hynix.

Looming geopolitical tensions between the United States and Iran, along with Washington's ambition over Greenland, weighed on investor sentiment as well.

"The rosy outlook for fourth-quarter earnings of semiconductor shares have already priced in recent gains," Han Ji-young, a researcher at Kiwoom Securities, said.

"Investors should focus on companies' conference calls, which will unveil their road map for HBM4 chips and supply of general-purpose memory," Han added.

Top tech giant Samsung Electronics closed unchanged at 152,100 won, while No. 2 chipmaker SK hynix moved down 4.04 percent to 736,000 won.

Leading carmaker Hyundai Motor fell 3.43 percent to 492,500 won, and its sister Kia shed 3.51 percent to 155,200 won.

Financial firms closed lower as well, with KB Financial falling 0.07 percent to 135,500 won and Shinhan Financial decreasing 1.79 percent to 82,400 won.

The secondary Kosdaq index shot up 7.09 percent to close above 1,000 after more than four years.

The local currency gained 25.2 won from the previous session to trade at 1,440.6 against the greenback at 3:30 p.m.

Bond prices, which move inversely to yields, closed higher. The yield on three-year Treasurys fell 4.1 basis points to 3.096 percent and the return on the benchmark five-year government bonds shed 3.8 basis points to 3.382 percent.

Yonhap