Seoul shares fell on Thursday led by key exporters including POSCO and Hynix on brewing earnings worries, but casualty insurers including Hyundai Marine & Fire gained. The Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) finished down 1.11 percent at 1,375.76 points, dropping for a fourth consecutive session.
"There is simply not much buying appetite in markets, and the index continues to trade in a boxed range near the 1,400-point level," said Mirae Asset Securities market analyst Lee Jin-woo. Foreign investors were net sellers for a fourth consecutive session, offloading a net 55.3 billion won ($43.81 million).
"As the earnings season approaches, investors will pay closer attention to earnings consensus, whether second-quarter numbers will be the bottom or not," Lee added. Shares in casualty insurers rallied after Meritz Fire & Marine posted better-than-expected monthly earnings for May, adding to hopes for the industry.
Meritz posted a 17.9 billion won ($14.25 million) net profit for the month, according to a filing to the Korea Exchange on Wednesday. "Insurers aggressively wrote off bad assets earlier this year and, as a result, their earnings are expected to get better from here," said Kiwoom Securities analyst Lee Tae-kyung.
Hyundai Marine and Fire advanced 3.42 percent and LIG Non-life Insurance jumped 5.88 percent. Meritz Fire & Marine gained 1.79 percent. But growing earnings worries sent some key exporters lower. POSCO, the world's No 4 steelmaker, fell for a third session, down 2.36 percent, amid concerns about the company's second-quarter results, analysts said. LG Electronics, the world's No 3 handset maker, lost 4.22 percent, and Hynix Semiconductor, the world's No 2 memory chipmaker, lost 4.38 percent.
SK Chemicals outperformed, rising 0.4 percent, after a local media report that the South Korean conglomerate would start a polysilicon venture. Institutions sold a net 192.1 billion won worth of shares and retail investors bought a net 240.3 billion won. Decliners led advancers 498 to 295, with 79 unchanged.
Trading volume stood at 490.9 million shares worth 4.4 trillion won, compared with 448.2 million shares worth 4.5 trillion won on Wednesday. The KOSPI 200 September futures index fell 1.70 points to 175.35, and the KOSPI 200 spot index lost 2.26 points to 175.54. The junior Kosdaq market ended 0.8 percent lower at 513.22 points.