▲ An employee works at the dealing room of Hana Bank in Jung-gu, Seoul, on the 3rd, as the KOSPI opened more than 3% lower following a record-breaking surge in the previous trading session.
The KOSPI is trading 4% to 5% lower as profit-taking orders are triggered following the historic surge in the previous trading session.
As of 9:21 a.m. today (the 3rd), the KOSPI stands at 6,310.89, down 284.56 points (4.31%) from the previous session.
The downward trend later widened to the 5% range.
The index started at 6,358.27, down 237.18 points (3.60%) from the previous session, and has been expanding its losses.
It briefly slipped to 6,247.64 during the intraday session.
Previously, in the preceding trading session, the KOSPI shook off three consecutive days of plunges to finish at 6,595.45, up 1,001.89 points (17.91%), marking its largest-ever gain and percentage increase.
However, it has turned downward today, just one trading session later.
In the current KOSPI market, foreign and institutional investors are driving down the index by net selling 991.4 billion won and 77.9 billion won, respectively.
In the previous trading session, foreign investors net bought a record-breaking 7.277 trillion won in the securities market, but have turned to net sellers today.
Conversely, individual investors, who sold heavily in the previous session, have turned to net buyers, purchasing a net 1.0422 trillion won today.
Late last week, the New York stock market saw its three major indices rise together as Amazon's strong earnings stimulated buying in tech stocks.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 rose 0.53% and 0.70%, respectively, while the Nasdaq Composite Index also gained 1.00%.
Amazon's stock surged 15.32% after reporting in its earnings release that quarterly sales surpassed 200 billion dollars for the first time, fueled by growth in its cloud computing business.
As investor sentiment toward tech stocks improved, NVIDIA (2.93%) reclaimed the top spot in market capitalization after four days, and Broadcom (0.37%) and others advanced.
However, SK Hynix ADR, which surged 17.5% in the previous trading session, pulled back by 3.54%.
Meanwhile, tensions between the United States and Iran showed signs of easing over the weekend.
U.S. President Donald Trump abruptly called off a planned military operation against Iran, which had been anticipated for the weekend, late at night on Saturday, the 1st (local time).
Shortly afterward, early this morning Korea time, President Trump hinted that an agreement had been reached with Iran regarding the opening of the Strait of Hormuz.
He subsequently announced that talks between the U.S. and Iran would take place on the afternoon of Monday, the 3rd, U.S. time.
Reflecting this, U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures are currently trading down 4.43% from the previous session at 80.92 dollars per barrel.
Nevertheless, the domestic stock market appears to be experiencing profit-taking due to the massive gains made in the previous session, despite easing tensions in the Middle East.
Looking at individual stocks, SK Hynix, which skyrocketed to the daily price limit in the previous session, plummeted 7.33% and gave up the 1.6 million won threshold, while Samsung Electronics, which soared over 26% in the previous session, is also plunging 7.05%.
The downward moves for Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix later widened to the 8% range.
Additionally, Hyundai Motor (-0.52%), LG Energy Solution (-4.57%), Samsung Biologics (-2.76%), and HD Hyundai Heavy Industries (-2.18%) are also trading weak.
On the other hand, Samsung Electro-Mechanics (3.59%), Shinhan Financial Group (0.30%), and Hanwha Aerospace (0.22%) are on the rise.
By sector, distribution (-3.93%), information technology (-3.86%), and chemicals (-2.32%) are declining, while communications (1.89%) and paper and wood (0.75%) are advancing.
At the same time, the KOSDAQ index is down 0.18 points (0.03%) at 719.58.
The KOSDAQ index opened at 709.99, down 9.77 points (1.36%) from the previous session, and briefly extended its losses to 705.07 before narrowing the decline.
In the previous trading session, the KOSDAQ index finished up 11.63% at 719.76, recording its second-largest percentage gain ever, but has turned downward today.
Foreigners and institutions are net selling 31.7 billion won and 62.2 billion won, respectively, while individuals hold a net buying advantage of 98.4 billion won.
Among top market cap stocks, secondary battery stocks such as EcoPro BM (-11.30%) and EcoPro (-6.45%) are tumbling, alongside JooSung Engineering (-1.29%), Leeno Industrial (-3.90%), and Wonik IPS (-7.38%).
Conversely, Alteogen (0.16%), Rainbow Robotics (3.46%), ABL Bio (1.35%), Samchundang Pharm (3.81%), and PharmaResearch (2.81%) are trading higher.
(Photo: Yonhap News)
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