KOSPI gives up the 6,000 mark after just one day, closes down 1.24% at 5,937.66 [fn Market Wrap]

[Financial News] The KOSPI Composite Index gave up the 6,000 level after just one day, as investors took profits following the previous day's sharp rally and foreign and institutional investors were net sellers. The index fell more than 3% intraday before recovering some of its losses, but weakness of around 4% in Samsung Electronics weighed on it.
According to the Korea Exchange (KRX), the KOSPI Composite Index closed at 5,937.66 on the 29th, down 74.78 points (1.24%) from the previous trading day. It opened up 4.78 points (0.08%) at 6,017.22 and climbed as high as 6,100.11 during the session before turning lower. At one point, it sank to 5,817.92, a decline of 3.24%, before paring its losses.
On the main board, individual investors were net buyers of 635.7 billion won. Foreign investors and institutions were net sellers of 307.7 billion won and 577.5 billion won, respectively.
By sector, financials (up 1.39%), transportation and warehousing (up 0.72%), and food, beverages and tobacco (up 0.58%) advanced. Construction (down 5.80%), machinery and equipment (down 5.28%), and chemicals (down 3.04%) declined.
Among stocks with the largest market capitalizations, SK Square (up 3.37%), KB Financial Group (up 1.88%), and Shinhan Financial Group Co., Ltd. (up 1.03%) rose. LG Energy Solution (down 8.73%), Samsung C&T Corporation (down 0.92%), and Samsung Biologics (down 0.44%) fell.
Large-cap semiconductor stocks moved in opposite directions. Samsung Electronics closed at 232,000 won, down 10,000 won (4.13%) from the previous trading day. SK hynix closed at 1.52 million won, up 33,000 won (2.22%).
Samsung Electronics was weak amid profit-taking sales despite posting record-high third-quarter earnings. Plans for implementing the remaining shareholder returns are expected to be finalized at the end of January next year. SK hynix and SK Square, by contrast, maintained their upward momentum, limiting the index's losses somewhat.
LG Energy Solution plunged amid selling pressure following LG Chem's disposal of a stake worth about 2.5 trillion won. News that negotiations had broken down on a construction contract for the Czech Republic's Dukovany nuclear power plant between Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power and a consortium of Daewoo E&C and Doosan Enerbility also weighed on related stocks. However, Doosan Enerbility's contract to supply reactor and turbine equipment remains in place.
The KOSDAQ closed around the 753 level, down 2.34% from the previous trading day. Individual investors were net buyers of 253.1 billion won, while foreign investors and institutions were net sellers of 163 billion won and 79 billion won, respectively.
Lim Jeong-eun, a researcher at KB Securities, said, "With the release of the U.S. September personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index, the Bank of Japan's (BOJ) monetary policy decision, and major companies' earnings announcements all approaching, it is worth watching for the possibility of increased short-term volatility."

[email protected] Lee Jeong-hwa Reporter