Kospi at 5,106.02 after turning positive from lower open

Institutions, individuals net buyers; foreigners sell 436.5 billion won

SK hynix down over 3%; Alteogen tumbles more than 16%

The Kospi and other market indexes are displayed on an electronic board at Hana Bank's dealing room in Jung-gu, Seoul, on Monday. [Yonhap]
The Kospi and other market indexes are displayed on an electronic board at Hana Bank's dealing room in Jung-gu, Seoul, on Monday. [Yonhap]

The Kospi, which suffered a sharp selloff last week, reversed early losses Monday to recover the 5,100 level, as buying by institutions and individuals offset continued foreign selling. Among large-cap stocks, Samsung Electronics gained more than 2% while SK hynix fell more than 3%.

As of 10 a.m., the Kospi was up 46.33 points, or 0.92 percent, at 5,106.02, according to Korea Exchange. The index had opened down 25.49 points, or 0.50 percent, at 5,034.20 before turning positive at around 9:48 a.m.

On the main board, institutions and individuals were net buyers of 298.4 billion won ($220 million) and 74.1 billion won, respectively. Foreign investors were net sellers of 436.5 billion won.

Samsung Electronics was trading up 4,600 won, or 2.44 percent, at 193,300 won. SK hynix was down 36,000 won, or 3.18 percent, at 1.17 million won. Among other large-cap names, Samsung Electronics preferred shares, SK Square, Samsung Biologics, KB Financial Group and Celltrion were all advancing. LG Energy Solution, Samsung Electro-Mechanics and Hyundai Motor were lower.

The Kosdaq was down 0.43 points, or 0.07 percent, at 643.84, after opening 5.45 points, or 0.85 percent, lower at 638.82. Individuals and institutions were net buyers of 68.2 billion won and 9.1 billion won, respectively, while foreign investors were net sellers of 80.3 billion won.

Alteogen, the Kosdaq's largest stock by market capitalization, plunged 32,800 won, or 16.36 percent, to 167,700 won. The drop was attributed to concerns that a European patent dispute over Keytruda SC — a subcutaneous formulation of the cancer drug that uses Alteogen's drug-delivery technology — could disrupt product supply. A Dutch court earlier ruled that Keytruda SC infringes on a European patent held by US firm Halozyme and issued an order restricting its manufacture and sale in eight European countries.

Other Kosdaq large-cap stocks also declined, including Ecopro BM, Ecopro, Rainbow Robotics and HLB. Jusung Engineering, SAM Chun Dang Pharm, Simtech, EO Technics and Leeno Industrial were among the gainers.

Analysts lean toward a rebound rather than further losses, given how sharply stocks fell in a short period last week. However, they cautioned that volatility could persist ahead of key US economic data releases and amid lingering concerns over potential data center regulation.

Han Ji-young, an analyst at Kiwoom Securities, said the aftershocks of last week's panic selling triggered by Democratic Party data center regulation fears would linger this week, but added that the odds of a rebound had risen over the chance of another sharp drop.

"Unless new negative catalysts emerge on the macro or AI front, I do not expect a repeat of last week's chain of steep declines," Han said. "The key question going forward is how much of last week's losses can be recovered, and that will depend primarily on major macro and AI earnings events scheduled for later this week."

Han set a projected Kospi range of 4,800 to 5,350 for the week, citing the US October consumer price index and earnings from AI-related companies including CoreWeave and Applied Materials as the main variables to watch.


hajun825@heraldcorp.com