KOSPI Plummets 3.7% Today... Can It Find a Path to Rebound?

〈Anchor〉

The KOSPI plummeted 3.7% today (the 12th), marking its largest daily drop since early last month. Amid sustained selling by foreign investors, analysts point out that the market has become even more vulnerable to external headwinds as it struggles to find a buying agent to fill the void left by the conclusion of Samsung Electronics' treasury stock buyback.

Reporter Min Gyeongho has the details.

〈Reporter〉

Opening down more than 0.7%, the KOSPI failed to gain any momentum throughout the day and eventually gave up the 6,400 mark, sliding significantly.

Closing at minus 3.65%, it recorded the steepest drop in about a month.

Foreign investors drove the market decline by net selling approximately 2 trillion won, while institutions also offloaded about 110 billion won.

Only individual investors were net buyers, purchasing nearly 1.5 trillion won.

The direct catalyst was cited as the 3.8% decline in the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index, a stock price gauge for U.S. semiconductor companies, while South Korea's stock market was closed for Hangeul Day.

Controversy over investment overheating resurfaced as OpenAI's revenue came in lower than expected.

Although it was later revealed to be due to differences in accounting calculation methods, market sentiment failed to recover, and both Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix saw drops in the 4% range.

Analysts say that investors reacted even more sensitively to negative news after witnessing stock prices fall despite Samsung Electronics' record-breaking earnings announcement last week.

[Lee Jin-woo / Head of Research Center, Meritz Securities: When sentiment is poor, people only see the negative aspects. With the justification for an upward move weakening, the market tends to drift downward due to supply-and-demand dynamics.]

Supply-and-demand factors, such as continuous selling by foreign investors and the conclusion of treasury stock buybacks by semiconductor firms, are also exerting a major impact.

Samsung Electronics announced that it completed its treasury stock buyback worth approximately 15 trillion won on the 6th, which it had initiated in August for employee stock compensation.

SK Hynix is also in the final stages of wrapping up its treasury stock buyback.

[Kim Dong-won / Head of Research Division, KB Securities: Since earnings conference calls for Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix are scheduled for late October, and U.S. big tech companies are also scheduled to announce their quarterly earnings, there is a tendency to adopt a wait-and-see approach until then.]

Meanwhile, as companies sold off dollars earned from strong exports in sectors like semiconductors, the won-dollar exchange rate hit a two-year low, dropping into the 1,320 won range at one point in the afternoon.

(Video reporting: Lee Moo-jin, Video editing: Ahn Yeo-jin)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.