The KOSPI, which opened higher, turned lower on foreign selling and ultimately failed to reclaim the 6,300 level. The KOSDAQ, which had extended gains this week, also slipped slightly and fell back below 800. As the domestic market shows heavy swings on foreign flows, some say incentives are needed to turn the mood.
On the 7th, the KOSPI ended trading at 6,258.77, down 37.61 points, or 0.60%, from the previous session. On the flows side, foreign selling was strong. Foreign investors were net sellers of more than 1 trillion won across the regular session and pre-market combined. Individuals and institutions bought a net 440 billion won and 720 billion won, respectively, but it was not enough to stop the index from falling.
After foreign investors, who had started as net buyers early in the session, switched to net selling and ramped up the size of sales, the KOSPI, which opened higher, immediately turned weak and failed to rebound.
Kang Jin-hyuk, a researcher at Shinhan Investment & Securities, said, "With caution over the Middle East situation persisting and ahead of the U.S. jobs report, buying appetite cooled due to a wait-and-see stance," and noted, "The KOSDAQ is also digesting profit-taking across large caps."
Share moves among major semiconductor names diverged. Samsung Electronics(005930) rose 0.22% at the close, while SK hynix, weighed by ongoing concerns over next year's high-bandwidth memory (HBM) 4 contract prices and shareholder returns, fell 4.88% to 1,422,000 won. By contrast, LG Energy Solution climbed 4.3% and Hanwha Aerospace rose around 4%, showing a stock-by-stock divergence.
Lee Kyung-min, a researcher at Daishin Securities, said, "News that Nvidia is considering lowering the HBM specification of Rubin Ultra acted as a burden," and analyzed, "Weakness in SK hynix, which has high HBM exposure, led the index decline."
Experts say the influence of foreign flows has grown in the domestic market recently. Rather than buying with a clear direction, foreign investors are quickly switching between buying and selling depending on market conditions, increasing index volatility, they explained. There is also a pattern of buying when prices drop sharply and then taking profits during rebounds.
Researcher Kang Jin-hyuk said, "Unless catalysts such as shareholder returns emerge in the semiconductor sector to lift share prices, a market led by non-semiconductor names with solid earnings is likely to continue for the time being."
Foreign selling was also strong in the KOSDAQ market. The KOSDAQ index ended trading at 798.81, down 2.86 points, or 0.36%, from the previous session. While foreigners and institutions were net sellers of 295 billion won and 105 billion won, respectively, individuals bought a net 380 billion won, absorbing the supply.
While top-cap semiconductor equipment names were weak, some pharmaceutical and biotech stocks held up. Wonik IPS(240810) and Jusung Engineering fell in the 4% range, and LEENO Industrial also fell 1.79%. In contrast, ##Alteogen rose nearly 4%, and HLB and ABL Bio gained 5.97% and 3.96%, respectively.