Seoul: Seoul shares ended slightly lower Friday on foreign selling, with China's better-than-expected economic growth falling short of boosting investor sentiment. The Korean won fell against the U.S. dollar.
According to Yonhap News Agency, the benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) fell 3.94 points, or 0.16 percent, to close at 2,523.55. Despite this decline, the main index has risen 0.3 percent over the week. The KOSPI opened in negative territory, tracking overnight losses on Wall Street, where the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.16 percent and the Nasdaq composite dropped 0.89 percent.
Trade volume was moderate, with 436.58 million shares worth 9.88 trillion won (US$6.77 billion) changing hands. Decliners outnumbered winners 444 to 434. Foreign investors sold a net 236.87 billion won worth of stocks, and institutions offloaded 101.58 billion won. Retail investors, on the other hand, bought a net 289.34 billion won worth of shares.
"Foreigners turned net sellers after scooping up local stocks in the previous two sessions ahead of President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration next week," noted Lee Jae-won, an analyst at Shinhan Securities. Analysts observed that China's robust economic data failed to buoy the index. China's economy grew 5.4 percent in the fourth quarter from a year earlier, reporting annual growth of 5 percent for 2024 on strong exports. Retail sales in China rose 3.5 percent on-year in 2024.
In Seoul, auto and shipbuilding stocks led the declines. Top carmaker Hyundai Motor fell 3.42 percent to 211,500 won, and Hanwha Ocean, formerly Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering, dropped 1.55 percent to 50,700 won. Market bellwether Samsung Electronics fell 1.1 percent to 53,700 won, while No. 2 chipmaker SK hynix rose 2.14 percent to 214,000 won.
Among other gainers, leading refiner SK Innovation rose 0.94 percent to 128,800 won, and state utility firm Korea Electric Power Corp. jumped 2.47 percent to 20,750 won. The local currency was trading at 1,458.30 won against the greenback at 3:30 p.m., down 1.6 won from the previous session.