South Korea's two main stock indexes moved in opposite directions Tuesday, with the Kospi declining in the 6,200-point range while the Kosdaq reversed an early loss to climb more than 1%.
As of 9:49 a.m., the Kospi stood at 6,258.23, down 41.43 points, or 0.66%.
The index opened at 6,240.06, a drop of 59.60 points, or 0.95%, before trimming some of its losses.
On the main KOSPI market, retail investors and foreign investors were net buyers of 136.8 billion won ($96.7 million) and 33.5 billion won, respectively, while institutions were net sellers of 157.7 billion won. Foreign investors also held a net selling position of 224.6 billion won in the KOSPI 200 futures market.
Sentiment was dampened by a weak overnight session on Wall Street and fading hopes for progress in US-Iran negotiations.
All three major US indexes fell overnight. The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 lost 0.11% and 0.06%, respectively, while the Nasdaq Composite fell 0.32%.
Semiconductor stocks were particularly hard hit. Intel dropped 4.06% after announcing its first large-scale share offering to fund AI chip investment. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index also fell 2.94%.
Overnight wire reports said Iran was rejecting direct talks with the United States, citing several conditions.
As hopes for a deal faded, international oil prices surged. Both Brent crude and West Texas Intermediate futures rose about 5 percent from the previous session.
Han Ji-young, a researcher at Kiwoom Securities, said the domestic market was likely to see a rotation-driven session, as rising oil prices and interest rates stemming from the US-Iran negotiation deadlock — combined with a pause in US equities — could trigger short-term profit-taking in small- and mid-cap stocks that had rallied in recent consecutive sessions.
Samsung Electronics was trading up 0.43 percent at 231,000 won, while SK Hynix fell 2.04 percent to 1.391 million won.
Among large-cap stocks, SK Square fell 2.53 percent, Samsung Electro-Mechanics dropped 5.02 percent and KB Financial Group declined 1.49 percent.
At the same time, the Kosdaq was up 14.77 points, or 1.73 percent, at 869.24.
The index had opened down 5.88 points, or 0.69 percent, at 848.59, but reversed course during the session and extended its gains.
On the Kosdaq market, retail investors and institutions were net buyers of 168.3 billion won and 18.7 billion won, respectively, lifting the index, while foreign investors were net sellers of 190.7 billion won.
Among top Kosdaq stocks by market capitalization, Jusung Engineering rose 13.33 percent, Wonik IPS gained 5.28 percent and HLB advanced 1.47 percent.
Alteogen fell 2.16 percent, Ecopro BM dropped 2.00 percent and ABL Bio declined 1.50 percent.
moon@heraldcorp.com
