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S.Korean shares fall 1st in 7 sessions as investors take breather

Xinhua, July 19, 2016 Adjust font size:

South Korean shares fell Tuesday, the first decline in seven sessions, as investors took a breather from recent gains, caused mainly by institutional investors selling more shares than buying.

The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) shed 4.22 points, or 0.21 percent, to settle at 2,016.89. Trading volume stood at 377 million shares worth 3.69 trillion won (3.24 billion U.S. dollars).

The main index got off a strong start, but turned downward as institutional investors dumped stocks to take a breather.

Market watchers said institutional selling came amid the KOSPI staying above the psychological level of 2,000 points recently, which triggered demand to lock in recent profits on views that stocks are overvalued.

Investors seemed to seek a wait-and-see mode ahead of major events from global central banks, including the European Central Bank (ECB) scheduled to hold a regular monetary policy meeting on Thursday. Rate-setting meetings by the U.S. Federal Reserve and Bank of Japan (BOK) are slated for next week.

Financial institutions dumped a net 415 billion won worth of stocks, but foreigners remained net buyers for a ninth straight session with stock purchases worth 306 billion won. Individual investors raised stock holdings by 117 billion won.

Large-cap shares ended mixed. Market bellwether Samsung Electronics settled unchanged after posting the intra-day high in 52 weeks. Top automaker Hyundai Motor and the biggest shipbuilder Hyundai Heavy Industries declined, losing ground as employees of the two companies went on a strike.

Leading cosmetics maker Amore Pacific lost 0.7 percent, and memory chip giant SK Hynix slipped 0.9 percent. Top steelmaker POSCO retreated 3.5 percent, but the No.1 auto parts maker Hyundai Mobis added 0.4 percent. The state-run power supplier Korea Electric Power Corp. rose 0.2 percent, and the operator of the country's most-searched portal Naver gained 0.8 percent.

South Korea's currency finished at 1,135.5 won against the greenback, up 0.9 won from Monday's close.

Bond prices ended mixed. Yields on the liquid three-year treasury notes lost 0.2 basis points to 1.227 percent, but returns on the benchmark 10-year government bonds rose 1.1 basis points to 1.426 percent. Enditem