KOSPI Falls More Than 1% After Opening Higher; SK hynix Drops 5% [Morning Market Update]

[Financial News] The KOSPI turned lower during intraday trading on the 7th after opening higher, falling more than 1%. As foreign investors shifted from net buying to net selling early in the session, heavyweight stocks including SK hynix dragged the index down. The KOSDAQ also fell more than 2%, slipping to the 780 level.
As of 10:30 a.m. that day, the KOSPI stood at 6,230.98, down 65.40 points, or 1.04%, from the previous session.
The index opened at 6,365.07, up 68.69 points, or 1.09%, from the previous close, and rose as high as 6,415.60 during the session. It later gave back those gains and turned negative.
On the main bourse, foreigners and retail investors were net sellers of 29 billion won and 208.1 billion won, respectively. Institutions were net buyers of 262.1 billion won.
U.S. stocks closed weaker overnight. On the New York stock market on the 6th local time, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) fell 0.85% from the previous session. The S&P 500 Index and the Nasdaq Index also declined 0.18% and 0.06%, respectively.
U.S. technology stocks were mixed by name. SanDisk and Western Digital fell 6.81% and 13.03%, respectively, after earnings releases. NVIDIA and Micron also dropped 0.10% and 1.31%. In contrast, Broadcom rose 0.55% and AMD gained 1.50%, lifting the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index by 0.33%. SK hynix's American depositary receipts (ADRs) fell 4.97%.
As bargain hunting that had emerged early in the session weakened, domestic semiconductor stocks also came under pressure, hit by declines in U.S. memory-related stocks and SK hynix's ADRs. The shift to net selling by foreign investors is also weighing on the index.
KOSPI's top market-cap stocks were also broadly lower. Samsung Electronics (-0.65%), SK hynix (-5.45%), SK Square (-4.02%), and Hyundai Motor (-3.12%) were among those in decline.
By sector, food and tobacco rose 1.46%, while most others fell, including construction (-4.49%), metals (-3.39%), and securities (-3.25%).
At the same time, the KOSDAQ was at 784.89, down 16.78 points, or 2.09%, from the previous session. The KOSDAQ opened at 807.62, up 5.95 points, or 0.74%, from the previous close, and climbed as high as 814.80 during the session, but later gave back most of its gains and turned lower.
On the KOSDAQ market, foreigners and institutions were net sellers of 159 billion won and 80.1 billion won, respectively. Retail investors were net buyers of 232.8 billion won.
Among the KOSDAQ's largest stocks by market capitalization, Alteogen (-2.39%), EcoPro (-2.03%), and EcoPro BM (-1.37%) were trading lower.

[email protected] Kim Mi-hee Reporter