[THE INVESTOR] South Korean stocks tumbled on Oct. 20, ending a four-day hike. The local currency fell against the US greenback.
The benchmark KOSPI edged down 0.34 point, or 0.02 percent, to 2,040.60.
Trade volume came to 265.55 million shares worth 3.58 trillion won (US$3.18 billion), with decliners outnumbering advancers 475 to 331.
Foreigners net-bought 117.5 billion won worth of stocks, far less than 227.6 billion won posted in the previous session.
Individuals also sold a net 210 billion won worth of shares, while institutions net-purchased 7.1 billion won worth of stocks.
Market observers pointed out a limit to the KOSPI’s advance dependent only on foreigners seeking short-term gains without an improvement in fundamentals.
In fact, most major industries were in negative terrain.
Market leader Samsung Electronics was off 0.31 percent to 1,620,000 won a day after a 2.27 percent gain. The state-run Korea Electric Power Corp. declined 0.37 percent to 51,800 won and major automaker Hyundai Motor lost 0.75 percent to 132,000 won.
Gainers included LG Chem with a 2.66 percent rise to finish at 251,000 won and Hyundai Heavy Industries, which advanced 2.01 percent to 157,000 won. Petroleum and refinery company S-Oil also gained 1.45 percent to 83,700 won on global oil price hikes.
The South Korean currency was trading at 1,127.55 won against the US dollar, down 4.35 won from the previous session’s close.
(theinvestor@heraldcorp.com)
