The KOSPI tumbled over 4% in early trading, extending its losing streak to five consecutive sessions.

As of 9:17 a.m. today (the 13th), the KOSPI is down 289.28 points, or 4.53%, at 6,094.96 compared to the previous day.

The index opened 3.10% lower at 6,186.08 and briefly dropped to 6,086.36 in early trading, threatening the 6,000 mark.

In the main bourse, foreign investors extended their selling streak to six straight sessions, net-selling 611.4 billion won.

Meanwhile, retail and institutional investors are net-buying 273.7 billion won and 310.7 billion won, respectively.

Foreign investors are also maintaining a net-selling position of 168.7 billion won in the KOSPI 200 futures market.

Wall Street finished mixed overnight amid relatively quiet trading for the Columbus Day holiday.

While the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.38%, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite fell 0.06% and 0.44%, respectively.

Particularly, memory semiconductor-related stocks showed notable weakness.

Intel fell 3.20%, Micron declined 3.88%, Broadcom dropped 1.88%, and SK Hynix's American Depositary Receipts (ADR) also retreated 4.02%.

The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index similarly fell 2.67%.

Market watchers attribute this to reports that China's ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT) has made new progress in DRAM memory technology.

CXMT plans to introduce next-generation server products utilizing this technology within the year.

The market is also paying close attention to the earnings reports of major financial institutions slated to roll out in full swing this week.

Key economic indicators such as the Consumer Price Index (CPI) and Producer Price Index (PPI) for September are also drawing attention.

The surge in international oil prices is also analyzed to have dampened investor sentiment.

Geopolitical risks in the Middle East came to the fore following attacks on Saudi Arabia by Yemen's Houthi rebels, pushing international oil prices up for the third consecutive session.

In particular, fueled by the aftermath of the attack on the Riyadh International Airport in Saudi Arabia, Brent crude futures for December delivery finished up 1.84% at $106.65 per barrel.

West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude for November delivery also rose 2.06% to close at $93.74 per barrel.

However, current WTI futures prices have returned to a decline of within 1%.

Seo Sang-young, managing director at Mirae Asset Securities, analyzed, "The domestic stock market will likely see continued weakness in early trading due to the sluggishness of the semiconductor sector and foreign supply-demand burdens."

However, he explained, "Given that related negative factors were largely priced in the previous day and that ChangXin Memory's technological progress does not immediately imply an increase in supply or a drop in memory prices, the likelihood of a narrowed decline and the inflow of bargain hunting remains high."

The domestic stock market opened with a sharp decline in the 3% range and is further widening its losses in early trading.

The possibility is also raised that the strong won has affected foreign net selling of domestic stocks.

The won-dollar exchange rate hit a two-year low yesterday.

In the Seoul foreign exchange market yesterday (the 12th) at 3:30 p.m., the won-dollar exchange rate was tallied at 1,335.1 won, down 7.7 won from the previous trading day.

Park Sung-hyun, a researcher at iM Securities, analyzed, "The fact that the won's value is relatively stronger than competing currencies and has even higher volatility is acting as a factor instigating foreign selling sentiment in domestic stocks."

Typically, a strong won tends to attract foreign capital into the domestic stock market.

However, the explanation is that foreign selling pressure has intensified as the upward momentum of semiconductor stocks has weakened somewhat alongside rising volatility in the won.

In fact, Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, representative semiconductor stocks in the domestic market, are both showing sharp drops in the 5% range.

Samsung Electronics is trading down 5.29% from the previous day at 237,250 won.

After opening with a decline in the 3% range, it is rapidly widening its losses.

SK Hynix also recorded 1,512,000 won, down 5.79%.

It opened with a sharp decline in the 4% range, showing an even wider drop.

Other top market-cap stocks are also showing consecutive weaknesses.

SK Square fell 7.77%, Samsung Electro-Mechanics dropped 5.65%, and LG Energy Solution declined 3.89%.

Hyundai Motor and KB Finance also decreased by 5.31% and 3.75%, respectively.

Currently, all stocks ranked 1st to 45th by market capitalization in the KOSPI market are declining.

By sector, electrical and electronic fell 4.83%, manufacturing dropped 4.47%, and chemicals declined 3.61%, experiencing severe losses.

Conversely, the entertainment and culture sector rose 0.17%, marking the only upward trend.

At the same time, the KOSDAQ index stood at 831.33, down 17.86 points, or 2.10%.

The KOSDAQ opened 3.00% lower at 823.69 and fell to 815.80 during intraday trading.

At that time, the decline rate reached 3.93%, but it has since slightly reduced its losses.

In the KOSDAQ market, retail investors are net-selling 1,342 billion won, putting downward pressure on the index.

Meanwhile, foreign and institutional investors are net-buying 1,221 billion won and 89 billion won, respectively.

By stock, Alteogen fell 2.38% and Jusung Engineering dropped 0.40%.

Ecopro and Ecopro BM are also down 1.90% and 4.93%, respectively.

On the other hand, Leeno Industrial rose 0.26%, PSK Holdings gained 2.48%, and PSK advanced 2.21%.

(Photo: Yonhap News)