Seoul shares remain volatile after market meltdown

Financial authorities view Monday’s plunge to be ‘excessive’

An electronic board shows the benchmark Kospi closing at 2,522.15, up 80.6 points or 3.3 percent from the previous trading day at the Hana Bank's dealing room in central Seoul, Tuesday. (Newsis)

The South Korean stock market partially rebounded Tuesday following the previous day's massive rout, as bargain-hunting investors sought to profit.

The benchmark Kospi closed at 2,522.15, up 80.6 points, or 3.3 percent, Tuesday. After opening at 2,533.34, the market showed a limited recovery. It fluctuated throughout the trading hours, but eventually lost over 10 points.

Shortly after trading began Tuesday, the Korea Exchange, the nation's sole bourse operator, activated a sidecar trading curb on the buying side of the Kospi in an attempt to stabilize the volatile market.

A sidecar suspends futures trading for five minutes to prevent panic. It is triggered when futures fluctuate by more than 5 percent and maintain that gain or loss for over one minute.

It was the first time in over four years that the operator activated a sidecar on the buying side of the Kospi, dating to June 2020.

Yet foreigners and institutional investors dumped 199.4 billion won ($144 million) and 320 billion won, respectively, on the market. Retail investors racked up 451.7 billion won.

On Kospi, 856 shares saw a gain in their stock prices, while 73 shares experienced a price fall. On the previous day, 924 shares fell.

The total market cap of Kospi stood at 2,063 trillion won with a 66 trillion won increase, striking contrast to how it lost 192 trillion won on the previous day.

The secondary bourse Kosdaq wrapped up at 732.87, up 41.59 points, or 6.02 percent. The bourse operator also issued a sidecar on the buying side of the Kosdaq for the first time since November.

Foreign hands and institutional investors each net bought 354.7 billion won and 125.1 billion won on Kosdaq, while retail investors shed 491.2 billion won.

It was the first time in over four years for the bourse operator to activate a sidecar on the buying side of both the Kospi and Kosdaq. The measures were the opposite of how trading curbs of a sidecar and circuit breaker were activated on the selling side of the two markets on the previous day due to a record-breaking crash.

On Monday, the local stock market plummeted, reflecting the woes of a potential recession of the US economy. The Kospi saw a record fall of 200 points, or 9 percent, marking the largest drop in a day ever.

Experts viewed Tuesday’s recovery on the stock market to be a “technical rally,” meaning the rise could be a short-term effect in the face of a general declining trend.

"Though the recovery may not lead to a general upward trend, a momentary rebound is expected," Hi Investment & Securities analyst Lee Woong-chan said.

"As the drop on the previous day was excessive, a technical rally was possible," market strategist Han Ji-young from Kiwoom Securities said. "But the local stock market needs a trigger for a turnover."

The Korean won strengthened by 0.8 won on Tuesday, being traded at 1375.6 won against the US dollar as of 3:30 p.m.

The local financial authorities viewed the US slowdown, yen-carry trade and renewed geopolitical woes in the Middle East to be potential risks associated with the US economy, adding the Asian stock markets responded "excessively" to the factors, as they started earlier than the US market following the weekend.

The yen-carry trade refers to investors deploying money borrowed at near-zero interest rates in Japan into higher-yielding assets, such as stocks and bonds. However, the yen has strengthened since the Bank of Japan recently raised interest rates, leading to investors unwinding their positions and going on a massive selling spree.

"While previous plunges were accompanied by actual impacts on the real, share, forex and bond markets, (Monday’s) dip was unique as it was limited to the stock market," Finance Minister Choi Sang-mok said in a meeting held with top financial policymakers here.

With escalating uncertainties including heightened geopolitical tension in the Middle East and the US presidential election, related authorities are to maintain a 24-hour monitoring posture, the attendees agreed.

By Im Eun-byel(silverstar@heraldcorp.com)