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Kospi snaps 6-day winning streak to fall 1% to 6,244.13 on profit-taking

Published: 27 Feb. 2026, 18:00

A screen in Hana Bank's trading room in central Seoul shows the Kospi closing at 6,244.13 points on Feb. 27, down 63.14 points, or 1 percent, from the previous trading session. [YONHAP]

Shares closed lower Friday, snapping a six-session winning streak as investors locked in profits in technology and other large-cap stocks following recent gains. The won sharply fell against the greenback.

The Kospi fell 63.14 points, or 1 percent, to finish at 6,244.13. The index still enjoyed a weekly gain of 7.5 percent.

Trading volume was heavy at 1.14 billion shares worth 52.94 trillion won ($36.8 billion), with decliners far outnumbering gainers 625 to 264.

The Kospi has remained in a bullish phase since the start of the year, surpassing the 4,500-point level for the first time on Jan. 6 and crossing the 5,000-point mark on Jan. 27. It broke through the 6,000-point level on Wednesday, less than a month later.

On Thursday, the index jumped 3.67 percent to finish at a record high of 6,307.27.

Institutional and retail investors purchased a net 491.99 billion won and 6.08 trillion won worth of shares, respectively, while foreign investors sold a net 6.83 trillion won.

A Nvidia logo appears in this illustration from Aug. 25, 2025. [REUTERS/YONHAP]

Analysts said the decline mirrored overnight losses in U.S. technology stocks, where investors engaged in profit-taking despite strong earnings from Nvidia.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite fell 1.18 percent, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average edged up 0.03 percent.

"Some investors sold shares to lock in profits after the market had rallied sharply over the past six sessions," Lee Seong-hoon, an analyst at Kiwoom Securities, said.

Technology stocks led the declines.

The SK hynix logo is displayed on its headquarters in Icheon, Gyeonggi on Jan, 29. [YONHAP]

Market bellwether Samsung Electronics fell 0.69 percent to 216,500 won, and its chipmaking rival SK hynix declined 3.46 percent to 1,061,000 won.

Leading shipbuilder HD Hyundai dropped 1.02 percent to 292,500 won, and leading shipping firm HMM shed 4.26 percent to 21,350 won.

Among gainers, top carmaker Hyundai Motor jumped 10.67 percent to an all-time high of 674,000 won, and defense firm Hanwha Aerospace climbed 0.08 percent to 1.2 million won.

Leading steelmaker Posco Holdings jumped 1.35 percent to 413,000 won, and No. 2 steelmaker Hyundai Steel surged 19.85 percent to 46,500 won.

The won weakened 13.9 won from the previous session to trade at 1,439.7 won against the U.S. dollar at 3:30 p.m.

Bond prices, which move inversely to yields, closed higher. The yield on three-year Treasurys fell 2.1 basis points to 3.041 percent, and the return on the benchmark five-year government bonds declined 3.6 basis points to 3.278 percent.

Yonhap