Kospi slips back below 6,000, and Kosdaq hits new 52-week low
As of 10:14 a.m., the Kospi was trading at 5,997.13, down 26.47 points, or 0.04 percent, from the previous session, and the Kosdaq had fallen 20.55 points, or 2.91 percent, to 685.65.
A screen in Hana Bank's trading room in central Seoul shows the Kospi opening on July 29.
NEWS1
The benchmark Kospi, which plunged approximately 8 percent the previous day, briefly rebounded during early trading on Wednesday before reversing course and slipping back below the 6,000 mark. The Kosdaq, meanwhile, extended its losses and reached a new 52-week low.
According to the Korea Exchange, the Kospi was trading at 5,997.13 as of 10:14 a.m., down 26.47 points, or 0.04 percent, from the previous session. The index had climbed as high as 6,228.52 earlier in the session before returning its gains and turning negative.
On the main bourse, foreign and institutional investors were net buyers of 35.6 billion won ($24.5 million) and 1.28 trillion won worth of shares, respectively. Retail investors, who had been net buyers of more than 4 trillion won the previous day, were net sellers of 1.37 trillion won.
Large-cap stocks showed mixed performance. Samsung Electronics rose 0.68 percent, while SK hynix fell 4.52 percent.
Before the market opened, SK hynix said that its preliminary second quarter operating profit came to 60.54 trillion won, revenue to 79.32 trillion won and net income to 93.92 trillion won — up 557.2 percent, 256.8 percent and 1,242.5 percent, respectively, from a year earlier.
SK Square fell 3.25 percent, Samsung Electro-Mechanics 3.05 percent, LG Energy Solution 0.65 percent and Samsung Biologics 0.9 percent. Hyundai Motor rose 2.34 percent, KB Financial Group 2 percent and Shinhan Financial Group 1.68 percent.
The Kosdaq fell 20.55 points, or 2.91 percent, to 685.65, setting a fresh intraday 52-week low.
Retail investors were net buyers of 64.2 billion won, while foreign and institutional investors were net sellers of 12.2 billion won and 58.4 billion won, respectively. Among large-cap Kosdaq stocks, most fell. Pharma Research, up 2.66 percent, was one of the few exceptions.
Some market watchers said that the recent sell-off has been excessive.
“We’re effectively seeing signs of a bottom,” said analyst Han Ji-young at Kiwoom Securities. “In the first half of the year, the pace of the rally itself was a burden, but now the decline itself is becoming a factor that’s building room for a future rebound.”
BY JEONG JAE-HONG [[email protected]]
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
