 |
An electronic board showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) at a dealing room of the Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul on Thursday. (Yonhap) |
The South Korean stock market finished the final session of the year with lackluster trading Thursday as investors took to the sidelines amid a lack of market-moving events. The local currency gained ground against the US dollar.
The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) shed 15.64 points, or 0.52 percent, to finish at 2,977.65.
Trading volume was a bit slim at about 454.04 million shares worth 8.59 trillion won ($7.23 billion), with decliners outnumbering gainers 485 to 377.
The index opened higher, but fluctuated between positive and negative terrain throughout the session before ending up extending its losing run for a second consecutive session.
Institutions and foreigners offloaded a net 749.4 billion won and 224.7 billion won worth of local shares, respectively, while retailers picked up shares worth 953.6 billion won.
"Investors appear to have taken a wait-and-see posture in this year's final session with no concrete events. A low-volume session also often means choppy trading," Han Ji-young, a researcher at Kiwoom Securities Co., said.
Most blue chips lost ground, though some tech and bio firms gained ground.
Market bellwether Samsung Electronics shed 0.63 percent to 78,300 won on news that the tech giant adjusted operations at its NAND flash memory chips facilities in the Chinese city of Xian due to the city's COVID-19 lockdown.
But No. 2 chipmaker SK hynix Inc. spiked 3.15 percent to 131,000 won after the company said that it has completed the first phase of its acquisition of Intel's NAND and solid-state drive business.
Market watchers also said that Samsung's production decline also worked positively for SK hynix as the move could help ease the supply glut of the chip market.
Top carmaker Hyundai Motor dropped 1.42 percent to 209,000 won, and its affiliate Kia fell 1.44 percent to 82,200 won.
Leading chemical firm LG Chem sank 2.07 percent to 615,000 won, and top steelmaker POSCO went down 1.61 percent to 274,500 won.
Samsung BioLogics advanced 1.46 percent to 903,000 won following a media report that the major South Korean contract drugs manufacturer seeks to buy US drugmaker Biogen. But Samsung BioLogics denied the report in a regulatory filing.
The local currency closed at 1,188.80 won against the US dollar, up 2.3 won from the previous session's close. (Yonhap)
