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

The Kospi fell back below the 7,000 mark on Tuesday, just one trading day after reclaiming that level, as a sharp rise in US Treasury yields during the Gaecheonjeol holiday weighed on the market.

Large-cap semiconductor stocks including Samsung Electronics and SK hynix weakened, and foreign investors sold off more than 1.7 trillion won ($1.25 billion) in shares, dragging the index lower. The Kosdaq, by contrast, surged nearly 3 percent as rotation buying flowed into semiconductor materials, components and equipment stocks as well as secondary battery shares, pushing the index back above the 900 mark for the first time in roughly three months.

According to Korea Exchange, the Kospi closed Tuesday at 6,941.39, down 62.35 points, or 0.89 percent, from the previous session. The index climbed as high as 7,044.67 in early trade before giving back its gains and extending losses in the afternoon. At one point it fell more than 1 percent, briefly breaking below 6,900, before trimming some of those losses to finish around the 6,940 level.

Foreign investors led the selling. Institutions posted net selling of 2 billion won on the day, while foreigners net sold 1.75 trillion won. Institutions recorded net selling of around 200 billion won at one point in the afternoon but sharply reduced their selling volume toward the close. Individual investors were net buyers of 740.6 billion won.

Other corporations, which had been propping up the index's floor, posted net buying of 1.01 trillion won on Tuesday — still a buying-side position, but well below their recent daily average of around 1.6 trillion won.

Other corporations had drawn attention as a key source of demand in the Kospi market, driven by share buybacks at Samsung Electronics and SK hynix. With Samsung Electronics' 15 trillion won buyback program expected to conclude Tuesday, however, buying momentum from that category appeared to ease.

The Kospi opened higher, lifted by overnight gains on Wall Street where all three major US indexes rose, with the tech-heavy NASDAQ Composite closing at an all-time high. But the index reversed course after Samsung Electronics — one of the Kospi's largest constituents by market capitalization — turned negative, with SK hynix also weakening.

Analysts attributed the reversal to US Treasury yields surging to their highest level in more than 22 years during the holiday period. The yield on the benchmark 10-year US Treasury note climbed as high as 5.347 percent intraday on Oct. 5 (local time), its highest since April 3, 2002. The 30-year yield reached 5.702 percent intraday, the highest since May 2002.

SK hynix fell 3.69 percent and Samsung Electronics dropped 1.45 percent, weighing on the Kospi. Foreign investors net sold 566.7 billion won worth of Samsung Electronics shares and 1.04 trillion won worth of SK hynix shares.

Among the top 10 Kospi stocks by market capitalization, gainers included Samsung Electro-Mechanics (up 5.95 percent), LG Energy Solution (up 5.12 percent), Hyundai Motor (up 0.43 percent) and SK Square (up 0.09 percent). Decliners included SK hynix (down 3.69 percent), Samsung Biologics (down 3.25 percent), Samsung Electronics (down 1.45 percent), Samsung Electronics preferred shares (down 1.39 percent), Samsung Life Insurance (down 1.38 percent) and KB Financial Group (down 0.30 percent).

The Kosdaq closed up 26.63 points, or 2.98 percent, at 919.92 — its first close above 900 since July 1, roughly three months ago. Institutions net bought 100.2 billion won and foreigners net bought 109.4 billion won, while individual investors net sold 207.3 billion won.

On the Kosdaq, HLB Group shares rallied after the US Food and Drug Administration concluded its inspection of HLB's liver cancer drug manufacturing facility. Semiconductor equipment stocks such as Jusung Engineering and secondary battery names including Ecopro BM and Ecopro also surged, supporting the index's advance.

Cybersecurity-related stocks also attracted buying interest amid growing expectations for increased security investment, following a string of hacking incidents and personal data breaches in the financial sector believed to involve AI.

All 10 of the top Kosdaq stocks by market capitalization closed higher: Jusung Engineering (up 17.51 percent), HLB (up 17.18 percent), Ecopro BM (up 11.41 percent), Ecopro (up 7.31 percent), Simtech (up 4.67 percent), Rainbow Robotics (up 3.67 percent), Leeno Industrial (up 3.08 percent), EO Technics (up 2.26 percent), Wonik IPS (up 2.24 percent) and Alteogen (up 0.19 percent).

The won edged down slightly against the dollar. The won-dollar rate closed the daytime session at 1,343.6 won per dollar as of 3:30 p.m. at the Seoul foreign exchange market, down 0.4 won from the previous session.


th5@heraldcorp.com