(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Lee Min-young = KOSPI continued to fluctuate and closed at a weak level last night on the 17th, as the U.S. Federal Reserve raised its benchmark interest rate and hinted at further increases.
Amid the sharp rise in the won/dollar exchange rate, foreigners continued to 'sell', increasing downward pressure, while individuals and institutions responded by 'selling', and the battle between supply and demand was fierce.
On this day, KOSPI closed at 6,715.41, down 2.56 points (0.04%) from the previous day.
The day before, KOSPI rebounded for the first time in five trading days due to the strength of semiconductor stocks, but turned to a downward trend in one day.
There are evaluations that the country did relatively well despite the negative news of the hawkish interest rate hike in the United States.
The index started at 6,779.02, up 61.05 points (0.91%) from the previous day, and at one point increased to 6,795.53 (1.15%). However, after that, the rate of increase was reduced and the price fluctuated repeatedly before turning into a downward trend in the latter part of the day. At one point, it was pushed down to 6,697.85 (-0.30%).
As of 3:30 p.m. on this day, the won-to-dollar exchange rate in the Seoul foreign exchange market was 1,382.2 won, up 13.6 won from the previous day. As of 3:30 p.m., it has been three weeks since the 27th of last month (1,380.9 won) that the standard price exceeded 1,380 won.
In the KOSPI market, foreigners net sold KRW 2.2803 trillion, showing 'selling' for 7 consecutive trading days.
On the other hand, individuals and institutions made net purchases of 413.7 billion won and 158.6 billion won, respectively, and other corporations also showed a purchasing advantage of 1.7047 trillion won.
However, foreigners made a net purchase of 203.4 billion won in the KOSPI 200 futures market.
On this day, the domestic stock market showed a 'watchful' trend with a mix of upside and downside factors.
Last night, the New York Stock Exchange's three major indexes all lowered their prices in response to the Federal Reserve's interest rate hike and hawkish message, putting downward pressure on the stock market.
Last night, the U.S. Federal Reserve raised the benchmark interest rate by 0.25 percentage points to 3.75-4.00% at the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC). This is the first austerity measure in three years and two months since July 2023.
It also suggested the possibility of additional increases within the year. According to economic indicator forecast data, the average year-end interest rate forecast of 18 out of 19 FOMC members was 4.1%, 0.3 percentage points higher than last June.
At a press conference, Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh emphasized the Fed's commitment to price stability, saying, "Inflation is too high and has persisted for too long." The market interpreted this as a hawkish statement (preferring monetary tightening), and stock market investment sentiment shrank.
The 10-year maturity U.S. Treasury bond interest rate, a global interest rate benchmark, stood at 5.024%, up 2.2bp (1bp = 0.01% point) from the previous period.
However, the stock market has already reflected concerns about the Federal Reserve's interest rate hike, and the growing perception that uncertainty about the future interest rate path has been resolved has acted as an upward factor for the stock market.
The fact that international oil prices, which had soared for two days in a row, turned downward due to news of Saudi Arabia's bypass supply of crude oil also appears to have stimulated low-price buying sentiment.
Kyeong-min Lee, a researcher at Daishin Securities, explained, “The market shock was limited as the possibility of an interest rate increase was largely reflected in the domestic stock market,” adding, “As the rise in international oil prices also subsided, investment sentiment was relatively good.”
Among the top stocks in market capitalization, large semiconductor stocks such as Samsung Electronics [005930] (-0.39%) and SK Hynix (-0.80%) fell, putting downward pressure on the index.
In addition, SK Square [402340] (-1.18%), Samsung Electro-Mechanics (-3.69%), and LG Energy Solution (-0.54%) also fell.
On the other hand, banking stocks such as KB Financial Group [105560] (1.41%), Shinhan Financial Group [055550] (1.07%), and Hana Financial Group [086790] (0.59%) rose due to interest rate hikes in major countries.
Hanwha Systems [272210] (12.65%) also surged on the news that it would participate in building an integrated air defense network in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and other defense stocks such as Hanwha Aerospace [012450] (3.98%) and Hyundai Rotem [064350] (2.34%) were also strong.
By industry, entertainment and culture (-1.49%), information technology (-1.29%), and electricity and electronics (-0.57%) fell, while transportation equipment (2.40%) and mechanical equipment (1.97%) rose.
On the other hand, the KOSDAQ index closed at 822.18, up 6.20 points (0.76%) from the previous trading day, continuing its upward trend for three consecutive trading days.
The KOSDAQ index started at 820.16, up 4.18 points (0.51%) from the previous day, and then briefly turned downward, reducing the intraday increase. Then it turned to an upward trend again, and at one point rose to 826.22 (1.25%).
Institutions made net purchases of KRW 44.8 billion, while individuals and foreigners had a selling advantage of KRW 25.1 billion and KRW 33.4 billion, respectively.
Ecopro (0.12%), Jusung Engineering [036930] (0.99%), Rainbow Robotics [277810] (1.18%), Reno Industrial [058470] (0.76%), and Robotis [108490] (0.32%) rose.
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However, Alteogen [196170] (-0.59%), Ecopro BM (-1.34%), and Wonik IPS [240810] (-1.17%) fell.
On this day, the trading volume in the stock market and KOSDAQ market was calculated to be 15.541 trillion won and 5.622 trillion won, respectively.
The total trading volume in the free market and main market of alternative exchange Nexttrade is 6.82 trillion won.
