Kospi's four-day winning streak goes snap

Stocks snapped a four-day winning streak Thursday, hit by losses in heavyweight technology stocks.

A screen in Hana Bank's trading room in central Seoul shows the Kospi closing at 3,130.09 points on Thursday, down 23.31 points, or 0.74 percent, from the previous trading day. [NEWS1]

Stocks snapped a four-day winning streak Thursday, hit by losses in heavyweight technology stocks. The won fell against the dollar.

The benchmark Kospi slumped 23.31 points, or 0.74 percent, to close at 3,130.09 points.

Trading volume was moderate at about 604 million shares worth some 12.1 trillion won ($10.3 billion), with losers outnumbering gainers 537 to 320.

Foreigners bought a net 18 billion won, while institutions dumped 513 billion won. Retail investors purchased a net 459 billion won.

After a lackluster start, most large caps traded lower as foreign and institutional sell-offs increased ahead of the Chuseok holiday that lasts from next Monday to Wednesday.

"Investors are shifting to wait-and-see mode ahead of the Chuseok holidays and the U.S. FOMC next week," said Park Soo-jin, an analyst at Mirae Asset Securities.

Most large caps closed lower in Seoul, led by tech losses.

Samsung Electronics declined 1.17 percent to 76,100 won, with chipmaker SK hynix losing 3.26 percent to 104,000 won.

Internet portal operator Naver added 0.37 percent to 402,000 won, while Kakao fell 0.82 percent to 121,500 won.

Pharmaceutical firm Samsung Biologics decreased 2.14 percent to 916,000 won, and Celltrion lost 2.02 percent to 267,000 won.

Automaker Hyundai Motor moved down 0.72 percent to 208,000 won, while its sister company Kia rose 1.44 percent to 84,500 won.

Chemical firm LG Chem fell 0.28 percent to 716,000 won, while rechargeable battery maker Samsung SDI dipped 3.33 percent to 725,000 won.

Steelmaker Posco gained 0.83 percent to 364,500 won.

Game publisher NCSoft dropped 1.17 percent to 589,000 won, and Netmarble fell 1.61 percent to 122,000 won.

The Kosdaq fell 3.36 points, or 0.32 percent, to close at 1,039.43.

The local currency closed at 1,171.8 won against the dollar, up 1.3 won from the previous session's close.

Bond prices, which move inversely to yields, closed lower. The yield on three-year government bonds gained 1.8 basis points to 1.51 percent, and the yield on the benchmark 10-year government bond added 1 basis point to 1.29 percent.

BY LEE TAE-HEE, YONHAP [lee.taehee2@joongang.co.kr]