Stocks finish down Tuesday ahead of Wall Street's 4th of July break

Stocks finished down Tuesday as investors booked profits ahead of the U.S. market's Independence Day break. The won rose against the dollar. After choppy trading, the Kospi sank 9.16 points, or 0.35 percent, to close at 2,593.31.

Screens in Hana Bank's trading room in central Seoul show the Kospi closing at 2,593.31 points on Tuesday, down 0.35 percent, or 9.16 points, from the previous trading session. [YONHAP]

Stocks finished down Tuesday as investors booked profits ahead of the U.S. market's Independence Day break. The won rose against the dollar.

After choppy trading, the Kospi sank 9.16 points, or 0.35 percent, to close at 2,593.31. Trading volume was moderate at 662.9 million shares worth 9.02 trillion won ($6.93 billion), with decliners outnumbering gainers 586 to 292.

Foreigners and institutions sold off a net 345.4 billion won worth of stocks, while retail investors bought 304.5 billion won.

"The Kospi moved to digest the steep rise the previous day without particular market momentum," a Daishin Securities analyst said.

On Monday, the benchmark index rallied almost 1.5 percent, boosted by strong tech companies that tracked U.S. peers and signs of inflation cooling in the U.S. economy. The Kospi returned to 2,600 for the first time in almost two weeks.

In Seoul, most large-cap stocks inched down.

Samsung Electronics remained flat at 73,000 won, while SK hynix inched up 0.26 percent.

LG Energy Solution lost 0.7 percent to close at 569,000 won, and Samsung SDI fell 0.84 percent to 711,000 won. LG Chem slipped 1.59 percent to 680,000 won.

Naver fell 0.32 percent to 188,700 won, and Kakao plunged 2.06 percent to 49,950 won.

Auto stocks were mixed, with Hyundai Motor dropping 0.24 percent to 208,000 won but Kia rising 0.45 percent 88,900 won.

Posco Holdings climbed 0.12 percent to 402,500 won, and Posco Future M jumped 1.63 percent to 375,000 won.

HD Hyundai Heavy Industries shot up 3.34 percent to 136,000 won on the news that it won orders to build a floating production unit for a Mexican crude oil firm.

HYBE hiked 2.33 percent to 286,000 won on expectations over the agency beating market expectations for second quarter earnings.

The local currency ended at 1,301.4 won against the dollar, down 9.7 won from Monday's close.

Bond prices, which move inversely to yields, closed mixed. The yield on three-year government bonds shed 0.2 basis points to 3.619 percent, and the yield on benchmark 10-year government bonds rose 1.5 basis points to 3.856 percent.

BY SOHN DONG-JOO, YONHAP [sohn.dongjoo@joongang.co.kr]