KOSPI Partially Recovers from Previous Day’s Plunge, but Volatility Persists [fn Closing Market Report]

The Financial News – Hopes that tensions in the Middle East will ease helped the country’s two main stock indices close up by around 2%. The indices jumped more than 4% right after the opening, then turned lower during the session before rebounding, underscoring that volatility remains high. According to the Korea Exchange on the 24th, the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) finished at 5,553.92, up 148.17 points (2.74%) from the previous session. The index opened at 5,638.20, up 4.30% from the previous close, but later reversed course and fell to as low as 5,395.17 during intraday trading. It then recovered in the afternoon, widening its gains and ending the day above the 5,500 level.
In the Stock Market Division of the Korea Exchange, retail investors and institutions were net buyers of 722.4 billion won and 968.3 billion won, respectively. Foreign investors showed a net selling advantage of 1.9793 trillion won.
By sector, food, beverage and tobacco gained 3.71%, electrical and electronics rose 3.48%, and manufacturing added 3.08%. In contrast, construction fell 3.66% and securities slipped 0.69%.
Among large-cap stocks by market capitalization, Samsung Electronics climbed 1.83%, SK hynix jumped 5.68%, Hyundai Motor advanced 1.44%, and LG Energy Solution surged 10.25%. Doosan Enerbility edged down 0.6%, while Kia lost 2.3%.
Overnight, U.S. stocks rebounded about 1%. Risk appetite improved on expectations of negotiations over the Middle East conflict following Donald Trump’s announcement of a five-day halt to attacks on the Islamic Republic of Iran, a sharp drop in oil prices, and a decline in the U.S. 10-year Treasury yield.
The domestic market jumped more than 4% in early trading, but at one point in the afternoon it gave back those gains and hovered around the flat line. It then bounced back later in the session to close up about 2%.
Kang Jinhyuk, a researcher at Shinhan Securities, said, "Foreign investors are continuing to post net selling in both the cash and futures markets, but the intensity of the sell-off has eased," adding, "Benefiting from the United States of America (U.S.) shifting its value chain away from China and from the current energy crisis, the energy storage system (ESS) industry is coming into the spotlight, and secondary battery stocks are showing strength."
The KOSDAQ Index closed at 1,121.44, up 24.55 points (2.24%) from the previous session. The index opened 3.4% higher at 1,134.16, but at one point during the session it fell to the 1,090 level.
In the KOSDAQ market, foreign investors bought a net 167 billion won and institutions purchased 22 billion won. Retail investors, on the other hand, recorded net selling of 159.5 billion won.

nodelay@fnnews.com Park Ji-yeon Reporter