Stock Price Recovered to the Level of 600 Points due to the Rapid Upbeat of 26 Points

The KOSPI has been recovered to the level of 600 points in 8 days due to the rapid upbeat of composite prices.

On the 17th, the KOPI was closed at 601.87 points, an increase of 26.63 points (4.63%) compared to that of last weekend. The KOSDAK index was closed at 44.12 points, an increase of 1.74 points (4.11%).

Since the increased stocks outnumbered substantially the decreased stocks with 741 stocks at the exchange and 752 stocks at the KOSDAK increased and 80 stocks at the exchange and 73 stocks at the KOSDAK decreased. Since the trading value also increased to 1 trillion and 869.2 billion Korean Won at the exchange and 963.2 billion Korean Won at the KOSDAK, the outlook for the trend of stock price turned out to be bright.

The institutional investors and the foreign investors led the hike in the stock price by causing a net purchase of 187.3 billion Korean Won (sales value amounted to 61.7 billion Korean Won) in the programmed trading through the net purchases of 4,792 contracts and 2,977 contracts of stock index future respectively. The price increase in the stock market around the globe including the US stock market last weekend due to the lowered possibility of the outbreak of war with Iraq contributed to stabilize the investor confidence.

However, since the foreign investors recorded a net sales of more than 30 billion Korean Won (recorded a net purchase of 14.3 billion Korean Won in term of total value since they purchased 70,000 stocks of Samsung SDI after the close of stock market) in reality, they could be a stumbling block to further increases. The situations surrounding the stock market including the international oil price, semiconductor price, domestic interest rate and nuclear issue of North Korea still remain as burdens.

Chan-Sun Hong hcs@donga.com