This photo taken on Friday shows the trading room of Hana Bank in central Seoul, with the benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index down 1 percent to close at 6,244.13. Photo by Yonhap
Seoul shares closed lower Friday, snapping a six-session winning streak as investors locked in profits in technology and other large-cap stocks following recent gains. The Korean won sharply fell against the U.S. dollar.
The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) fell 63.14 points, or 1 percent, to finish at 6,244.13. The index still enjoyed a weekly gain of 7.5 percent.
Trading volume was heavy at 1.14 billion shares worth 52.94 trillion won (US$36.8 billion), with decliners far outnumbering gainers 625 to 264.
The KOSPI has remained in a bullish phase since the start of the year, surpassing the 4,500-point level for the first time on Jan. 6 and crossing the 5,000-point mark on Jan. 27. It broke through the 6,000-point level Wednesday, less than a month later.
On Thursday, the index jumped 3.67 percent to finish at a record high of 6,307.27.
Institutional and retail investors purchased a net 491.99 billion won and 6.08 trillion won worth of shares, respectively, while foreign investors sold a net 6.83 trillion won.
Analysts said the decline mirrored overnight losses in U.S. technology stocks, where investors engaged in profit-taking despite strong earnings from Nvidia Corp.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite fell 1.18 percent, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average edged up 0.03 percent.
“Some investors sold shares to lock in profits after the market had rallied sharply over the past six sessions,” Lee Seong-hoon, an analyst at Kiwoom Securities Co., said.
Technology stocks led the declines.
Market bellwether Samsung Electronics fell 0.69 percent to 216,500 won, and its chipmaking rival SK hynix declined 3.46 percent to 1,061,000 won.
Leading shipbuilder HD Hyundai dropped 1.02 percent to 292,500 won, and leading shipping firm HMM shed 4.26 percent to 21,350 won.
Among gainers, top carmaker Hyundai Motor jumped 10.67 percent to an all-time high of 674,000 won, and defense firm Hanwha Aerospace climbed 0.08 percent to 1,195,000 won.
Leading steelmaker POSCO Holdings jumped 1.35 percent to 413,000 won, and No. 2 steelmaker Hyundai Steel surged 19.85 percent to 46,500 won.
The Korean won was quoted at 1,439.70 won against the U.S. dollar at 3:30 p.m., down 13.9 won from the previous session.
Bond prices, which move inversely to yields, closed higher. The yield on three-year Treasurys fell 2.1 basis points to 3.041 percent, and the return on the benchmark five-year government bonds declined 3.6 basis points to 3.278 percent.
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