Concerns over a tariff war grew following U.S. President Donald Trump's announcement of automobile tariffs, causing the KOSPI and KOSDAQ indices to open lower on the 27th.
As of 9:05 a.m. that day, the KOSPI index recorded a drop of 28.52 points (1.08%) to 2,615.42 compared to the previous trading day. Foreign investors and institutions sold a net 11.3 billion won and 47.5 billion won worth of stocks, respectively, pulling the index down. Individual investors bought a net 56.4 billion won.
Most of the top stocks by market capitalization in the securities market are declining. SK hynix has dropped by over 2% due to increased semiconductor regulations by the Chinese government. In contrast, Samsung Electronics has seen a slight increase. As concerns over U.S. automobile tariffs spread, Hyundai Motor and Kia have each fallen by 3.83% and 1.78%, respectively.
Lee Seong-hoon, a researcher at Kiwoom Securities, noted that the domestic securities market is likely to see the release of sell-offs in the semiconductor and automobile sectors, which had shown good momentum recently, due to Trump's announcement of a 25% tariff on imported automobiles and poor performances from major U.S. semiconductor stocks like NVIDIA.
At the same time, the KOSDAQ index is down 5.14 points (0.72%), recording 711.37 compared to the previous trading day. Foreign and institutional investors are selling a net 16.1 billion won and 3.1 billion won worth of stocks, while individual investors are buying a net 18.3 billion won.
Among the top stocks in the KOSDAQ market, most are falling, including Alteogen, ECOPRO BM, Ecopro, Rainbow Robotics, and CLASSYS. In contrast, HLB and Kolon TissueGene are rising. SM, which has had its target price adjusted upward in the securities market, is up 1.14%.
Overnight, U.S. stocks fell as President Trump announced a news conference regarding automobile tariffs. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, Standard & Poor's (S&P) 500 index, and Nasdaq index declined by 0.31%, 1.12%, and 2.04%, respectively.
Recently, President Trump indicated flexibility regarding reciprocal tariffs, leading to optimism, but as tariff risks became imminent, risk-averse sentiment has increased again. Additionally, amid news that China is tightening regulations on NVIDIA products in response to U.S. export controls on advanced semiconductors, investor sentiment in semiconductor stocks has rapidly cooled.