Seoul shares ended lower on Friday, hit by a 2 percent tumble in market leader Samsung Electronics as investors locked in profits from recent gains on the first day of the chip maker's share buyback programme.
The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) closed down 0.85 percent at 848.11 points. The KOSPI declined 0.4 percent for the week. "Samsung had gone up a lot after the buyback announcement (on Monday)," said Joh Ju-Youn, an analyst at Merits Securities.
"And with the buyback starting today, some investors took the opportunity to liquidate their holdings." Samsung Electronics Co Ltd shares, which had risen almost 5 percent over the previous four sessions, ended down 2.19 percent at 469,500 won.
The world's biggest memory chip maker kicked off a plan to buy back 2 trillion won ($1.75 billion) worth of its own shares by December 16 in a bid to stabilise its share prices. Analysts said the main index faced stiff resistance above 850 points.
"We were at the high end of the trading range between 780 and 850, and we faced a lot of (downward) trading pressure," added Joh. The KOSPI had hit its highest level in over four months on Thursday.
Trade was sluggish throughout the session, with analysts noting there were few supportive factors propping up the market.
"The market has experienced some rotation trading and there has not been any noticeable movements in terms of supply and demand," said Casey Choi, a fund manager at Alpha Asset Management.
Samsung's smaller chip-making rival Highness Semiconductor fell 1.79 percent to end at 10,950 won due to lingering concerns about a probe by US anti-trust authorities into suspected price fixing of DRAM chips.
On a brighter note, shares in SK Corp rose 2.02 percent to end at 50,400 won after the nation's largest oil refiner said it would buy back an unspecified number of its preferred shares.
Trade volume reached 837 million shares worth 2 trillion won versus 797 million shares worth 2.2 trillion won on Thursday. Losers edged out gainers by 382 to 321 with 95 titles ending flat.
Foreign investors sold a net of 41 billion won in shares on the main bourse and retail investors bought a net 12 billion won. Institutional investors sold a net of 78 billion won in shares.
The December KOSPI 200 futures index declined 0.35 point to 109.65 and the underlying KOSPI 200 spot index shed 0.88 point to 109.32. The over-the-counter Kosdaq lost 0.09 percent to finish at 371.05.