Index recovers 8,400 line after intraday reversal

Samsung Electronics closes up 3.4%, above 330,000 won

Foreigners net-sell 3.8 trillion won

The Kospi is displayed on a screen at the dealing room of Hana Bank's headquarters in Jung-gu, Seoul, on Tuesday. [Yonhap]
The Kospi is displayed on a screen at the dealing room of Hana Bank's headquarters in Jung-gu, Seoul, on Tuesday. [Yonhap]

The Kospi rebounded Tuesday after swinging between gains and losses during the session, recovering the 8,400 line even as foreign investors extended their selling streak to eight consecutive trading days. Retail and institutional buying stepped in to support the index.

The benchmark closed up 81.83 points, or 0.97 percent, at 8,476.48 — its first gain in three trading sessions since June 25.

The index opened 22.05 points, or 0.26 percent, higher at 8,416.70 and extended gains early in the session before turning negative and sliding as low as 8,220.80.

After alternating between gains and losses, the index turned higher and built momentum, at one point surging to an intraday high of 8,667.73. The gap between the intraday high and low reached 446.93 points.

All five of the top stocks by market cap closed higher. Samsung Electronics rose 3.41 percent to 334,000 won ($217), while SK hynix gained 0.84 percent to close at 2.65 million won.

SK Square, Samsung Electronics preferred shares and Samsung Electro-Mechanics rose 3.48 percent, 0.71 percent and 7.16 percent, respectively.

Kumho Engineering & Construction and its preferred shares both hit the daily upper limit, rising 29.97 percent and 30.00 percent, respectively, on expectations surrounding the development of a semiconductor cluster in the Honam region.

On the losing side, Hyundai Motor fell 0.40 percent, LG Energy Solution dropped 9.61 percent, Samsung Life declined 1.84 percent, Samsung Biologics shed 3.94 percent and Doosan Enerbility slipped 1.36 percent.

Foreign investors, who have been selling heavily in recent sessions, net-sold 3.8 trillion won worth of shares Tuesday, weighing on the index. Retail and institutional investors provided a floor, net-buying 840.4 billion won and 2.93 trillion won, respectively.

Including Tuesday, foreigners have been net sellers on the main board for eight consecutive trading days. On Monday they net-sold a record 7.73 trillion won — the largest single-day net-selling figure on record. On Friday they also offloaded more than 4 trillion won worth of shares.

"The Kospi rebounded as bargain-hunting flowed into semiconductor stocks, with institutional buying concentrated in the sector," said Lee Gyeong-min, an analyst at Daishin Securities.

The Kosdaq fell 4.39 points, or 0.48 percent, to close at 916.18. The index had surged 8.13 percent Monday, snapping a losing streak, but gave back ground Tuesday as buying interest shifted back toward large-cap semiconductor names on the Kospi.

Among the top Kosdaq stocks by market cap, Alteogen fell 3.22 percent, Ecopro dropped 9.66 percent and Ecopro BM declined 7.77 percent.

Jusung Engineering surged to become the fifth-largest stock on the Kosdaq by market cap, while Wonik IPS climbed to sixth. EO Technics also entered the top 10.

Retail investors net-bought 390.9 billion won on the Kosdaq, while foreign and institutional investors net-sold 246 billion won and 143.2 billion won, respectively.


jiyun@heraldcorp.com