Kospi Plummets 3.7%: Can It Find a Path to Rebound?

[Anchor]

The Kospi plummeted 3.7% yesterday (October 12). Foreign investors continue to sell off shares, and the fact that semiconductor companies have already finished or are nearing the completion of their treasury stock buybacks is also being reflected in stock prices.

Reporter Min Gyeongho has the details.

[Reporter]

Starting the day down more than 0.7% at the opening, the Kospi struggled all day and ultimately gave up the 6,400 line, tumbling downward.

At -3.65%, it marked the steepest daily decline in about a month.


Foreign investors led the market drop by net selling about 2 trillion won, while institutions also sold off about 110 billion won.

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

The direct trigger is cited as the 3.8% drop in the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index, a stock price indicator for U.S. semiconductor firms, while the South Korean market was closed for Hangeul Day.

Concerns over overheated investment resurfaced as OpenAI reported lower-than-expected revenue.

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

Analysts say that investors, having witnessed stock prices fall even after Samsung Electronics announced record-high earnings last week, have become much more sensitive to bad news.

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

Supply and demand factors, such as the selling streak by foreign investors and the conclusion of semiconductor companies' treasury stock buybacks, are also exerting a major influence.

Samsung Electronics announced that it completed its approximately 15 trillion won treasury stock buyback program, which began last August for employee stock compensation, on the 6th.

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

[Kim Dong-won / Head of Research Division, KB Securities: With earnings conference calls for Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix scheduled for late October, and major U.S. tech companies also slated to announce their quarterly earnings, the prevailing stance is to wait and see until then.]

Driven by companies selling off the dollars they earned through strong exports of semiconductors and other goods, the won-dollar exchange rate temporarily hit the 1,320 won range in the afternoon, marking its lowest level in about two years.

(Camera: Lee Moo-jin, Video Editing: Lim Yeojin)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.