Only Retail Investors Are Net Buyers as KOSPI Slides and Volatility Widens

As geopolitical tensions in the Middle East intensify, both major Korean stock markets are seeing heightened intraday volatility, according to Financial News.
As of 10:30 a.m. on the 6th, the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) was trading at 5,447.23, down 136.67 points (2.45%) from the previous session.
The index opened at 5,491.02, down 92.88 points (1.66%) from the previous close. It briefly climbed to as high as 5,609.98 in the morning but then extended its losses.
In the KOSPI Market, retail investors are net buyers of 1.9017 trillion won. Foreign investors and institutions are showing net selling of 1.3243 trillion won and 603.5 billion won, respectively.
Among large-cap stocks by market capitalization, most names are declining, including Samsung Electronics (-4.07%), SK Hynix (-4.14%), and Hyundai Motor (-1.28%). Hanwha Aerospace is one of the few gainers, up 3.19%.
Overnight, the U.S. stock market widened its intraday losses as concerns over instability in the Middle East persisted following Iran’s attack on an oil tanker, pushing international oil prices above the 80-dollar level and fueling risk-off sentiment. However, the market pared part of its losses toward the close after mention of a United States government plan to stabilize oil prices.
Lee Sung-hoon, a researcher at Kiwoom Securities, said, "The domestic stock market is expected to open lower due to rising international oil prices stemming from continued instability in the Middle East and supply-demand burdens after the previous day’s surge, and then show increasingly divergent moves among individual stocks toward the end of the session." He added, "With reports continuing of an Iranian oil tanker being hit and international oil prices remaining on an upward trend, the Korean market, which is highly dependent on Middle Eastern crude, should be prepared for a period of volatility driven by geopolitical risks."
At the same time, the KOSDAQ Index was trading at 1,120.78, up 4.37 points (0.39%) from the previous session. The index opened at 1,117.49, up 1.08 points (0.1%) from the prior close.
At one point during the session, as gains widened, a suspension of program buy orders (a buy-side sidecar) was triggered on the KOSDAQ Market for the second consecutive day.

nodelay@fnnews.com Park Ji-yeon Reporter