KOSPI was up in the 2% range in early trading on the 4th before turning lower. With foreigners selling more than 1 trillion won and even Samsung Electronics and SK hynix turning lower, the index is being pushed down.
As of 11:03 a.m. on the 4th, the KOSPI was trading at 5,565.65, down 83.14 points (1.47%) from the previous session. It broke through the 5,800 level right after the open, rising more than 2%, but then gave up all of the gains and turned negative.
By investor type, foreigners are selling 1.2829 trillion won worth of shares on the KOSPI market. Individuals and institutions are buying 817.5 billion won and 232.1 billion won worth, respectively.
Top market-cap stocks are also mostly weak. Samsung Electronics is down 1.82% at 215,500 won, and SK hynix is down 2.90% at 1,357,500 won. Samsung Electronics preferred (-0.99%), SK Square (-2.45%) and Samsung Electro-Mechanics (-1.63%) are also lower.
Wariness continues over the unclear policy direction ahead of the U.S. midterm elections, and the buying that flowed into domestic semiconductor stocks early in the session is also rapidly losing steam. On the 3rd (local time), New York stocks ended mixed by index. The Dow Jones Industrial Average 30 fell 0.38%, but the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq rose 0.36% and 0.83%, respectively. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index gained 2.63%.
The KOSDAQ also turned weak at the same time, down 10.59 points (1.50%) at 693.80. Individuals are buying 65.8 billion won worth, while foreigners and institutions are selling 39 billion won and 6.8 billion won worth, respectively.
Among top KOSDAQ stocks, HLB plunged 19.16%, and Alteogen (-7.78%) and Rainbow Robotics (-2.59%) are also falling. EcoPro (1.71%), EcoPro BM (1.14%) and Jusung Engineering (2.77%) are higher.
Semiconductor materials, parts and equipment stocks are holding up relatively well. Simmtech surged 8.90%, and Eo Technics (1.82%), Wonik IPS (0.71%), Leeno Industrial (1.68%) and ISC (2.36%) are also rising.