As investors watched the August U.S. inflation statistics carefully in search of hints about the Federal Reserve’s future monetary policy, stocks ended the day slightly lower on Wednesday. In relation to the dollar, the won dropped.
The benchmark Kospi finished at 2,534.7 after losing 1.88 points, or 0.07 percent.
There were 411.2 million shares traded for a modest total value of 9.09 trillion won ($6.83 billion), with decliners outnumbering gainers 549 to 321.
Local shares were sold by individuals for a net amount of 184.4 billion won while being purchased by international and institutional investors for a net amount of 165.3 billion won.
The release of the August U.S. consumer price index, which is scheduled for later today, put significant pressure on Wall Street overnight because the information is anticipated to provide light on the Federal Reserve’s tightening monetary policy ahead of its rate-setting policy meeting next week.
Tuesday saw lower closing prices for all three U.S. stock indices, with the Nasdaq down more than 1%.
According to Shinhan Securities analyst Noh Dong-gil, “on Wall Street, tech shares led the decline due to rising oil prices and increasing pressure on interest rates.”
Up until the Fed meeting next week, investors will probably continue to be cautious.
In Seoul, the market saw uneven trading of large-cap companies.
SK Hynix increased by 1.5 percent to 118,500 won, while Samsung Electronics increased by 0.6 percent to 70,900 won.
Kia gained 1% to 78,500 won, while Hyundai Motor increased its price by 1.9 percent to 189,800 won.
LG Electronics increased 5.3 percent to 104,200 won while Naver increased 1.1 percent to 222,000 won.
LG Energy Solution dropped 1% to 494,500 won and LG Chem dropped 3.4% to 540,000 won, both of which were decliners. At 558,000 won, Samsung SDI remained unchanged.
Posco Future M fell 2.5 percent to 387,000 won, and Posco Holdings fell 3.1 percent to 529,000 won.
The local currency increased 2.2 won from Tuesday’s closing to conclude the day at 1,330 won to the dollar.
Bond prices, which follow yields in the opposite direction, ended mixed. While the yield on the benchmark 10-year U.S. government bonds decreased by 0.4 basis points to 4.3 percent, the yield on three-year government bonds increased by 0.8 basis points to 3.9 percent.