[Opening Market] KOSPI Slides Below 6,800 on Interest Rate Caution

On August 28, the KOSPI stock market dipped below 6,800 points as investors grew wary of the Bank of Korea's interest rate decision and faced selling pressure from foreign and institutional players. The market opened at 6,846.54, slipping 0.95% (65.83 points) from the previous day's close of 6,912.37. For a brief moment, the KOSPI fell to 6,805.01 before attempting to recover to 6,898.27, but it failed to maintain the upward momentum by 10:00 a.m. when the index closed at 6,870.70, down 41.67 points (0.60%) from the prior trading day.

Foreigners and institutions were simultaneously selling the index, while retail investors managed to buy alone, adding 384 billion won (approximately $278.2 million) to the market. However, their efforts were not enough to counteract the strong net selling trend led by foreigners and institutions, who collectively net-sold 215 billion won and 172 billion won, respectively.

The decline was particularly pronounced in large-cap stocks, with Samsung Electronics and SK hynix suffering losses. Samsung Electronics fell to 83,400 won, down 800 won (0.95%) from the previous day, and SK hynix dropped to 1,714,000 won, down 16,000 won (0.92%) from the prior trading day.

Despite favorable factors such as the groundbreaking ceremony for the semiconductor fab's advanced packaging plant in Indiana, U.S., the KOSPI's weakness persisted as large-cap stocks continued to struggle. LG Energy Solution and several automobile stocks also experienced declines. Meanwhile, the won/dollar exchange rate in the Seoul foreign exchange market showed an upward trend, starting at 1,380.30 won in the morning, up 4.30 won from the previous day's close of 1,376.00 won.

This increase in the exchange rate, driven by caution ahead of the Bank of Korea's monetary policy announcement and foreign net selling in the domestic stock market, could potentially act as a catalyst for dollar demand.