Stock Market Falls on Foreign Sell-off, Won-Dollar Rate Rises

On the 17th, both the KOSPI and KOSDAQ indices closed lower. The won-dollar exchange rate also increased. The won-dollar rate closed at 1483.60 won per dollar in the Seoul foreign exchange market, up 2.80 won from the previous day.

The KOSPI's decline was influenced by large-scale net selling by foreign investors. Foreign investors net sold 2.0355 trillion won worth of stocks in the overall market that day. Institutions net bought 150 billion won, and retail investors net bought 1.5 trillion won. Among top market capitalization stocks, Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix, Samsung Biologics, and SK Square showed weakness. Hanwha Aerospace plummeted by 6.32%.

In the KOSDAQ market, foreign investors net bought 15.8 billion won worth of stocks, and institutions net bought 9.1 billion won.