The South Korean stock market tumbled nearly 5% on Tuesday, with tech shares continuing their decline despite Samsung Electronics reporting preliminary second-quarter results. The Korean won also weakened against the US dollar.
The Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) closed down 395.02 points, or 4.91%, at 7,656.31. The index had fallen more than 8% during the session, triggering a circuit breaker that halted trading for 20 minutes.
Trading volume was heavy, reaching 512.29 million shares worth 39.66 trillion won (approximately $259 billion). Decliners outnumbered advancers 509 to 358.
Institutional and foreign investors sold shares worth 309.1 billion won and 2.92 trillion won, respectively. In contrast, retail investors were net buyers, purchasing 3.13 trillion won worth of stocks.
Technology stocks fell sharply even after Samsung Electronics forecast operating profit of 8.94 trillion won for the April-June period, which exceeded market expectations.
Analysts noted that investors are now focusing on whether increased capital expenditure, heightened competition, and capacity expansion can deliver sufficient earnings growth to support the elevated valuations of tech companies.
Samsung Electronics shares, a market bellwether, fell 6.92% to close at 296,000 won. SK Hynix Inc. shares dropped 6.06% to 2.201 million won, following its plan for a US listing later this week to raise $29 billion.
Hyundai Motor Co. shares declined 4.48% to 479,000 won. Defense contractor Hanwha Aerospace Co. fell 3.19% to 1.122 million won.
Hanwha Ocean Co. shares plunged 22.65% to 89,800 won after a South Korean consortium that included the company failed to win a multi-billion dollar submarine procurement project in Canada.
Among gainers, cosmetics maker Amorepacific Corp. rose 4.2% to 126,500 won. Leading refiner SK Innovation Co. advanced 7.56% to 103,800 won.
As of 3:30 PM local time, the won was quoted at 1,528.20 per US dollar, down 2.1 won from the previous session's close.
Comments