Kospi Turns Lower After Briefly Reclaiming 5,800 as Foreigners Sell 1.2829 Trillion Won

• The Kospi turned lower to 5,565.65 after reclaiming the 5,800 level intraday, as foreign net selling widened to 1.2829 trillion won.
• The rebound in U.S. technology stocks failed to last in Korea, where weakness in large semiconductor shares and top market-cap stocks deepened the index’s decline.
• On the Kosdaq, HLB plunged, while EcoPro, EcoPro BM and semiconductor materials, parts and equipment stocks showed relatively firm trading.

Forecast Trend Report by Period

South Korea’s Kospi gave up early gains and turned lower as heavy foreign selling weighed on the market.

As of 11:03 a.m. on November 4, the Kospi was down 83.14 points, or 1.47%, at 5,565.65 from the previous session. The benchmark rose more than 2% shortly after the open and reclaimed the 5,800 level, but later erased all of those gains as selling intensified.

A rebound in U.S. technology stocks provided only brief support for Korean equities. In New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.38%, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq rose 0.36% and 0.83%, respectively. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index also climbed 2.63%, but large Korean chip stocks turned weaker in intraday trading.

Foreign selling stood out in market flows. On the main Kospi market, foreigners were net sellers of 1.2829 trillion won. Retail investors and institutions were net buyers of 817.5 billion won and 232.1 billion won, respectively, but that was not enough to prevent the index from falling. Policy uncertainty surrounding the U.S. midterm election vote count was also weighing on sentiment.

Among the biggest companies by market value, Samsung Electronics fell 1.82% to 215,500 won, while SK Hynix dropped 2.90% to 1,357,500 won. SK Square slid 2.45%, Samsung Electro-Mechanics lost 1.63%, and Samsung Electronics preferred shares fell 0.99%.

The Kosdaq also turned lower. At the same time, the junior index was down 10.59 points, or 1.50%, at 693.80. Retail investors were net buyers of 65.8 billion won, while foreigners and institutions were net sellers of 39 billion won and 6.8 billion won, respectively.

By stock, HLB plunged 19.16%. Alteogen fell 7.78%, and Rainbow Robotics lost 2.59%. EcoPro rose 1.71%, EcoPro BM added 1.14%, and Jusung Engineering gained 2.77%.

Semiconductor materials, parts and equipment stocks were holding up better than large-cap chipmakers. Simmtech jumped 8.90%, while ISC rose 2.36%, EO Technics gained 1.82%, LEENO Industrial advanced 1.68%, and Wonik IPS added 0.71%.

Suehyeon Lee