On the 8th, after the KOSPI index plunged more than 8% early in the session, it pared about half of the loss and is moving around the 7,800 level. As foreign investors unload large amounts of profit-taking shares, individuals and institutions are net buying, narrowing the index's decline.
As of 11:58 a.m. that day, the KOSPI index was down 371.53 points (4.55%) from the previous session at 7,789.06.
Starting the day at 8,048.09, down 112.5 points (1.38%), the KOSPI crashed more than 8% right after the open, triggering a "circuit breaker" that temporarily halts transactions and a "sell sidecar" that temporarily suspends the effectiveness of program sell quotes in succession.
Amid foreign investors' dumping, individuals and institutions are increasing their buying, easing the index's decline. In the Korea Exchange main board, foreigners are net selling more than 1.2 trillion won, while individuals and institutions are countering with net purchases of 700 billion won and 300 billion won, respectively.
It appears that an overheated rally in global semiconductor stocks and rising odds of a U.S. Federal Reserve (Fed) rate hike within the year have weighed on domestic market sentiment.
U.S. futures for the three major New York indexes are mixed. As of 12:09 p.m. that day, the Standard & Poor's (S&P) 500 June futures were up 0.23% from the previous session at 7,417.50. At the same time, Nasdaq futures were up 0.68% at 29,224.50, while Dow Jones futures were down 0.18% at 50,842.0.
Among the largest stocks by market cap on the main board, Samsung Electronics and SK hynix are also trimming losses. Samsung Electronics is currently down in the 5% range from the previous session, and SK hynix is weaker in the 2% range.
By contrast, NAVER and SK Telecom are rising despite the down market, up in the 11% and 3% ranges from the previous session, respectively, on expectations of collaboration with Nvidia.
On the KOSDAQ, the decline widened to more than 7% at one point early in the session, triggering a temporary suspension of the effectiveness of program sell quotes (sell sidecar). The KOSDAQ, which opened at 959.61, down 42.83 points (4.27%) from the previous session, slid to 926.46 early on. It then trimmed losses slightly and has been fluctuating around a 6% decline, trading near the 940 level.
In the KOSDAQ market, institutions are net buying 110 billion won, offsetting individuals' net selling of 78 billion won.