South Korean Stocks Pull Back from Session Lows
The benchmark KOSPI shed 161.57 points, or 2.97 percent, finishing at 5,277.30, while the tech-heavy KOSDAQ tumbled 34.46 points, or 3.02 percent, to close at 1,107.05 — extending a bruising losing streak into a third consecutive session for the wider index.
The KOSPI opened in freefall, plunging as much as 4.73 percent at the open, before institutional investors pivoted to net buying and helped arrest the decline. Foreign investors spearheaded the initial selloff, while retail traders stepped in aggressively on both the KOSPI and KOSDAQ, absorbing downward pressure through dip-buying and preventing a deeper market rout.
On the currency front, the South Korean won closed the daytime session at 1,515.7 won per dollar as of 3:30 p.m. local time (0630 GMT), marking a 6.8 won weakening from the prior session's close.
Among blue-chip heavyweights, market bellwether Samsung Electronics declined 1.89 percent, while memory chip titan SK Hynix bore a steeper blow, tumbling 5.31 percent. The nation's largest automaker, Hyundai Motor, cratered 5.15 percent, though battery manufacturer LG Energy Solution bucked the broader trend, advancing 3.93 percent.
Elsewhere across key sectors, biopharmaceutical contract manufacturing leader Samsung Biologics dropped 4.73 percent, and defense and aerospace heavyweight Hanwha Aerospace slipped 2.02 percent. Shipbuilding giant HD Hyundai Heavy Industries retreated 3.71 percent, while energy infrastructure firm Doosan Enerbility shed 3.98 percent.
Analysts warned that market direction would remain hostage to further developments in the Middle East as the geopolitical crisis shows no signs of abating.
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