KOSPI saved by retail
South Korea’s KOSPI barely held above 5,400 after a roughly 6% plunge — retail traders set a record net buy of 7 trillion won and bought about 5.5 trillion won in one session to prop the market up. (en.sedaily.com) (en.sedaily.com)
Retail investors recorded a single-day net purchase of 6.9984 trillion won, while foreign and institutional investors were net sellers of 3.6754 trillion won and 3.8127 trillion won, respectively. (en.sedaily.com) An earlier intraday Korea Exchange update showed retail net buying of 5.5825 trillion won as of 1:31 p.m., before the final tally rose to the all-time record by the close. (en.sedaily.com) A sell-side “sidecar” trading curb was triggered shortly after the open, and KOSPI 200 futures briefly activated a circuit breaker at 9:18 a.m., marking the 10th such activation this year. (en.sedaily.com) Heavyweights posted steep losses at the close: Samsung Electronics was quoted at 186,300 won (-6.57%) and SK hynix at 933,000 won (-7.35%), with Hyundai Motor, LG Energy Solution and SK Square also among the worst performers. (en.sedaily.com) Market stress coincided with oil and currency moves: Brent crude briefly topped $100 per barrel and the won weakened to about 1,517.3 per dollar amid heightened U.S.-Iran tensions. (en.sedaily.com) The KOSDAQ slid to 1,096.89, where retail investors still bought 465.9 billion won while foreigners and institutions net sold 259.5 billion won and 200.6 billion won, respectively. (en.sedaily.com) Retail flows in March have surged: individual investors’ net purchases in the main bourse exceeded 21.8 trillion won through March 20, putting the month on track to challenge the January 2021 Donghak Ant peak of about 22.34 trillion won. (en.sedaily.com)
