Kospi barely clings above 2700 threshold amid broad institutional selloff

[Photo by Yonhap]

South Korea’s benchmark Kospi crashed additional 2.6 percent Tuesday to lose 8.6 percent entering this year amid broad loss of institutional confidence in Korean Inc.

The Kospi finished Tuesday at 2,720.389, off 2.6 percent from Monday and 8.6 percent so far this year. On Tuesday, 99 out of top 100 Kospi members, or 862 out of 932 members were losers

Bellwethers Samsung Electronics and SK hynix lost more than 2 percent during the session.

Institutions net sold 4.76 trillion won ($3.97 billion) in Kospi shares between Jan. 3 and Monday. They sold another 171 billion won worth Tuesday.

Offshore investors net bought 3 trillion won in shares in the first 13 days of the month but became net sellers afterwards. From then on, Kospi finished higher only once. They dumped 464 billion won worth on Tuesday.

Investor sentiment soured on grumpy external environment.

Institutions are awaiting U.S. economy figures and U.S. Fed’s Federal Open Market Committee message slated for Tuesday, local time. The meeting could also act as a favorable factor and lift up the stock market on eased uncertainty.

Global stock market, however, could be punched upon negative results in U.S. job data signaling slowdown in the U.S. economy.

Last week, the U.S. Labor Department announced that jobless claims totaled 286,000 for the week ended Jan. 15, up 55,000 from the previous week and highest since the second week of October last year.

Lee Kyung-min, an analyst at Daishin Securities, said foreign selloff could accelerate on negative job data.

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