Kospi plunges 3% in early trade as Samsung Electronics falls below 300,000 won

The Kospi plunged more than 3% in early trading Tuesday, with Samsung Electronics briefly losing its 300,000-won floor. Retail investors absorbed nearly 600 billion won ($390 million) in net purchases, but the index remained under heavy selling pressure below the 7,800 level.

As of 9:30 a.m. Tuesday, the Kospi stood at 7,789.74, down 261.59 points, or 3.25%, from the previous session. After opening weak, selling pressure intensified and the index touched 7,756.62 — a decline of 3.66% — at 9:11 a.m. The benchmark then hovered in the upper 7,700s, unable to escape the sharp downturn.

At the same time, foreign investors were net sellers of 392.4 billion won on the main bourse, while institutional investors were net sellers of 195.4 billion won. Retail investors absorbed 596.3 billion won in net purchases. Institutions, which had shown buying interest at the open, shifted to net selling, widening the decline from around 1 percent to more than 3 percent.

Most large-cap stocks were in negative territory at the same time. Samsung Electronics fell 5.82 percent to 299,500 won, slipping below the 300,000-won mark.

Samsung Electronics released better-than-expected preliminary second-quarter earnings before the open, but its share price weakened immediately after the announcement. The move was widely interpreted as a "sell-on" pattern — profit-taking after a positive catalyst — as investors appeared to have already priced in the strong results.

Samsung Electronics reported preliminary second-quarter operating profit of 89.4 trillion won, a 1,810 percent increase from a year earlier and above the market consensus of around 84 trillion won. Before accounting for performance-bonus provisions, operating profit is estimated to have exceeded 100 trillion won.

Even as Samsung Electronics tumbled, losses among major semiconductor stocks diverged. SK hynix held its ground with a decline of around 1 percent. Samsung faced heightened earnings-expectation pressure following its preliminary results, while SK hynix was relatively cushioned by expectations for HBM demand and an anticipated American depositary receipt listing.

The semiconductor selloff on the Kospi ran counter to overnight moves on Wall Street, where all three major indexes closed higher. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.29 percent, while the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq gained 0.72 percent and 1.12 percent, respectively. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index also advanced 2.17 percent, reflecting positive sentiment toward chip stocks.