The Kospi opened higher Tuesday, buoyed by a rally in US technology stocks, but surrendered its gains amid heavy foreign selling, leaving the market in mixed territory.
As of 9:30 a.m., the index stood at 8,261.02, up 133.36 points, or 1.59 percent, from the previous session.
The index opened at 8,416.70, up 22.05 points, or 0.26 percent, then extended its advance to an intraday high of 8,513.94 before reversing course and turning lower.
On the main bourse, retail investors and institutions provided support, posting net purchases of 506 billion won ($328 million) and 469.4 billion won, respectively.
Foreign investors, however, were net sellers of 988.2 billion won, extending their selling streak to eight consecutive sessions. Their net selling on Monday reached a record 7.7 trillion won — the largest single-day total in history.
Overnight on Wall Street, a rebound in technology shares lifted all three major indexes. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.59 percent, crossing the 52,000 mark for the first time, while the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq gained 1.18 percent and 2.07 percent, respectively.
Nvidia rose 1.27 percent, Micron Technology gained 1.14 percent and Broadcom advanced 2.04 percent, helping push the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index up 3.83 percent.
Domestic stocks also faced upward pressure, led by semiconductor shares. However, persistent foreign selling has capped the index's advance.
Among large-cap stocks, Samsung Electronics was trading down 0.31 percent at 322,000 won, while SK hynix fell 3.01 percent to 2.549 million won.
SK Square, Samsung Life and Samsung C&T also declined, falling 6.83 percent, 5.75 percent and 5.52 percent, respectively.
Samsung Electro-Mechanics bucked the trend, rising 3.58 percent.
The Kosdaq opened at 925.21, up 4.64 points, or 0.50 percent, and has since hovered near the flatline. As of the same time, it stood at 915.30, up 5.27 points, or 0.57 percent, from the previous session.
On the Kosdaq, retail investors and institutions were net buyers of 165.9 billion won and 47.5 billion won, respectively, while foreign investors were net sellers of 210.5 billion won.
Among top Kosdaq-listed stocks, semiconductor materials, components and equipment makers led gains — Wonik IPS surged 8.62 percent, EO Technics jumped 9.97 percent and PSK rose 6.69 percent.
moon@heraldcorp.com
