Seoul Bourse Fluctuates Over North Korea
South Korea's KOSPI stock index showed an upward trend in the morning on May 17 but it finished down again in just one day on foreign investors’ selling spree. The KOSPI index closed at 2,448.45, down 11.37 points, or 0.46 percent, from 2,459.82 on the previous trading day.
The KOSPI gained 8.9 percent points, or 0.36 percent, to start from 2,468.72 and surpassed the 2,470 level in early trading. Although North Korea unilaterally postponed the high-level talks with the South, the U.S. government announced that the summit with North Korea will be held as scheduled. Accordingly, the so-called inter-Korean business cooperation-themed stocks lifted the KOSPI.
As tensions caused by North Korea’s unilateral notification for postponement of the meeting had eased, the KOSPI increased but it moved in the opposite direction in the afternoon after foreign investors went on a selling spree.
Foreign investors sold 216.7 billion won (US$200.46 million) worth of stocks, while individual and institutional investors net bought 145.2 billion won (US$134.32 million) and 107.2 billion won (US$99.17 million), respectively.