Kospi plunges 4% to 6,200s as foreigners dump W3.3tr in shares

The Kospi plunged more than 4 percent Thursday, retreating into the 6,200s, while the Kosdaq rose for a fifth consecutive session to reclaim the 800 mark.

The benchmark index closed down 301.88 points, or 4.58 percent, at 6,296.38.

The index opened down 119.51 points, or 1.81 percent, at 6,478.75 and extended its losses through the session, at one point sliding as low as 6,238.32. A sidecar — a temporary halt on program sell orders — was triggered at 10:18 a.m. after the index fell more than 5 percent.

On the main Kospi market, foreign investors and institutional investors net sold 3.33 trillion won ($2.34 billion) and 121.4 billion won worth of shares, respectively, dragging the index lower. Retail investors net bought 3.34 trillion won.

Among large-cap stocks, Samsung Electronics closed down 6.30 percent at 230,500 won, while SK hynix fell 10.37 percent to close at 1.495 million won. The declines reflected selling pressure on memory chip stocks following weakness in technology shares on Wall Street.

SK Square fell 13.32 percent and Samsung Electro-Mechanics dropped 9.37 percent.

Lee Gyeong-min, an analyst at Daishin Securities, said SanDisk's weak guidance weighed on sentiment across the memory chip sector, even as Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX, had bolstered investor confidence by identifying memory chips as a key bottleneck during a conference call.

SanDisk issued guidance of $10.3 billion to $10.8 billion for the next quarter in its fiscal fourth-quarter earnings release, falling short of market expectations.

LG Energy Solution rose 2.83 percent, Samsung Biologics gained 1.54 percent and Hanwha Aerospace advanced 4.67 percent, drawing rotational buying.

Cosmetics stocks also posted gains, with LG Household up 10.77 percent, d'Alba Global rising 6.47 percent and APR climbing 5.73 percent.

The Kosdaq closed up 2.08 points, or 0.26 percent, at 801.67, marking a fifth straight session of gains.

The index opened down 0.27 percent at 797.44 before turning positive and reclaiming the 800 level.

On the Kosdaq, retail and institutional investors net bought 86 billion won and 161.5 billion won, respectively, providing support. Foreign investors were the sole net sellers, offloading 248.2 billion won.

Among Kosdaq large caps, Alteogen rose 5.96 percent, ABL Bio gained 3.87 percent and Ecopro advanced 1.58 percent. Semiconductor materials, parts and equipment stocks fell, with Jusung Engineering down 6.65 percent and Wonik IPS declining 5.22 percent.