An employee works at the dealing room of Hana Bank in Jung-gu, Seoul, on Monday, as the Kospi — which had surged by a record margin the previous session — tumbled more than 5% to close in the 6,200-point range. [Yonhap]
An employee works at the dealing room of Hana Bank in Jung-gu, Seoul, on Monday, as the Kospi — which had surged by a record margin the previous session — tumbled more than 5% to close in the 6,200-point range. [Yonhap]

The Kospi plunged more than 5% as profit-taking hit large-cap semiconductor stocks led by Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, while the Kosdaq surged more than 2% on strength in pharmaceutical, biotech and robot shares — a stark divergence analysts attributed to a shift in investment flows away from semiconductor heavyweights following a hike in the minimum deposit requirement for single-stock leveraged ETFs.

According to Korea Exchange, the Kospi closed Monday at 6,257.45, down 338.00 points, or 5.12%, from the previous session.

On the Kospi market, foreign and institutional investors posted net selling of 2.83 trillion won ($1.97 billion) and 1.95 trillion won, respectively. Retail investors absorbed the selling pressure with net purchases of 4.65 trillion won.

Among top stocks by market capitalization, Samsung Electronics fell 23,000 won, or 8.76%, to close at 239,500 won, while SK Hynix dropped 151,000 won, or 8.79%, to 1.57 million won. SK Square (-1.25%), LG Energy Solution (-3.66%), Samsung Biologics (-4.18%) and Samsung Life (-7.70%) also declined. Samsung Electro-Mechanics (3.42%), Hyundai Motor (1.29%) and KB Financial Group (0.59%) bucked the trend to close higher.

By sector, textiles and apparel (-10.16%), electrical and electronics (-7.60%), manufacturing (-6.15%), insurance (-5.06%) and retail (-4.64%) posted the steepest declines. Construction (1.74%), entertainment and culture (0.79%), medical and precision equipment (0.73%) and paper and wood (0.69%) finished in positive territory.

The Kosdaq closed at 737.35, up 17.59 points, or 2.44%, from the previous session. The index opened lower, dipping as far as 709.99 in early trade, before reversing course and climbing to an intraday high of 757.60. The rally was strong enough to trigger a buy-side sidecar — a temporary suspension of program buy orders — at 10:28 a.m.

On the Kosdaq market, institutional and retail investors recorded net purchases of 166.8 billion won and 33.7 billion won, respectively, while foreign investors posted net selling of 209.2 billion won.

Among top Kosdaq stocks by market capitalization, pharmaceutical and biotech names advanced — Alteogen rose 2.92%, HLB gained 0.98%, ABL Bio climbed 6.29% and Peptron soared 29.97% — while robot-related stocks also gained, with Rainbow Robotics up 5.89% and Jusung Engineering up 2.65%. On the downside, Ecopro fell 2.15%, Ecopro BM dropped 6.47%, Leeno Industrial lost 4.21% and Wonik IPS declined 4.00%.

"Even as geopolitical tensions eased with the resumption of US-Iran negotiations, profit-taking sentiment pushed semiconductor stocks to give back some of their recent sharp gains," said Kang Jin-hyeok, an analyst at Shinhan Investment. "Funds flowed into the Kosdaq, which had been sidelined in terms of both investment flows and catalysts, partly in response to regulations such as the single-stock leveraged ETF deposit requirement."

"Profit-taking on Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, which had surged last Friday, triggered a semiconductor-led pullback," said Lee Gyeong-min, an analyst at Daishin Securities. "As flows concentrated in semiconductors rotated into pharmaceutical, biotech and robot sectors, the Kosdaq rallied strongly enough to trigger a buy-side sidecar, creating a clear divergence between the two markets."


hajun825@heraldcorp.com