Stocks down for third day due to tech companies' flop

Stocks closed down for the third consecutive day on Monday, largely due to a flop in tech companies.

Electronic signboards at a Hana Bank in central Seoul show Kospi and won-dollar exchange rate on Monday. [YONHAP]

Stocks closed down for the third consecutive day on Monday, largely due to a flop in tech companies.

The benchmark Kospi shed 20.39 points, or 0.79 percent, to close at 2,570.87. Trading volume was moderate at 613.21 million shares worth 9.83 trillion won ($7.38 billion), with losers outpacing gainers 601 to 288.

The index opened lower as U.S. shares closed mixed Friday, and had extended losses further.

Institutions and foreigners sold a net 333.35 billion won and 119.22 billion won worth of shares, respectively, while retail investors bought a net 427.4 billion won.

"U.S. tech shares fell on renewed concerns about inflationary pressure, and that also weighed down the Kospi. The recent weakening of the local currency has also affected foreign buying," Mirae Asset Securities analyst Seo Sang-young said.

U.S. producer prices rose 0.3 percent in July, slightly more than expected, on the back of strong costs for services.

Investors also await the U.S. retail sales report for July and the minutes of the Fed's July rate-setting meeting. Both will be released later this week.

The Fed is expected to pause its interest rate hikes in September, although it has signaled that more work needs to be done to rein in inflation.

Fecwatch, which is run by the CME Group and forecasts rates using Fed Fund futures contract prices, put the chance of a pause at 90 percent on Monday.

Top-cap tech and battery shares led Kospi's fall.

Market bellwether Samsung Electronics fell 0.30 percent to 67,300 won, and chip giant SK hynix lost 0.35 percent to end at 114,900 won.

Leading battery maker LG Energy Solution decreased 0.91 percent to 542,000 won, and LG Chem tumbled 4.02 percent to 597,000 won. Samsung SDI dropped 3.63 percent to 610,000 won.

Carmakers also lost ground. Top automaker Hyundai Motor skidded 0.89 percent to 188,800 won, and its affiliate Kia slid 1.99 percent to 78,700 won.

No. 1 steelmaker Posco Holdings remained unchanged at 577,000 won, and Posco Future retreated 1.48 percent to 434,000 won.

But cosmetics rose on hope for sales growth as China lifted the ban on group tours to Korea after six years. Amorepacific rose 0.92 percent to 131,600 won and Hankook Cosmetics spiked 12.05 percent to 10,880 won.

The local currency ended at 1,330.9 won against the U.S. dollar, down 6.0 won from the previous session's close.

BY JIN MIN-JI, YONHAP ]jin.minji@joongang.co.kr]