South Korean stock market dipped almost 4 percent during the first two days of this week to fall just higher than 2,900, which is the lowest this year. Photo courtesy of Pixabay

KOSPI managed to rebound Thursday

South Korean stock market dipped almost 4 percent during the first two trading days of this week to fall to just above 2,900 amid continued concerns about mounting interest rates and energy prices.

South Korea’s benchmark index KOSPI slipped 1.9 percent Tuesday and 1.8 percent Wednesday to finish at 2,908.31, and tech-focused Kosdaq lost 2.8 percent and 3.5 percent during the period. The market remained close on Monday.

The KOSPI marks the lowest level since Dec. 30 last year.

South Korea’s representative companies, including Samsung Electronics, saw their share prices slump.

The world’s largest maker of memory chips and smartphones lost 2.6 percent on Tuesday and Wednesday ahead of its announcement of third-quarter performances due on Friday.

Korean newspapers reported this week that Samsung Electronics’ sales would reach a record-high 73 trillion won ($62 billion) during the July-September period for an operating profit of 15.8 trillion won ($13 billion), up 27.8 percent from a year before.

But the bright prospects could not stop wary investors from selling off Samsung stocks. Samsung refused to confirm whether the reports were true.

Samsung’s share price soared to record-high 96,800 won ($81.6) on Jan. 11, but the figure plunged roughly 25 percent during the past nine months.

SK hynix and Naver, the country’s No. 2 and No. 3 corporations in terms of market capitalization, also shed substantially. In particular, No. 5 player Samsung BioLogics lost almost 10 percent.

“Inflationary pressures continue, and the interest is rising. In addition, the conflicts between the United States and China keep weighing on South Korea’s stock market,” Daishin Securities analyst Lee Kyung-min said.

Others pointed out that the debt crisis related to China’s Henda Real Estate Group also generates worries among investors here.

Concerns continue that Hengda, otherwise dubbed Evergrande, could default on its debt to negatively affect the global economy. The cash-strapped property giant is estimated to have around $300 billion of debt.

Shares of the group and its property management unit were suspended from trading in Hong Kong this week.

The KOSPI got off a good start on Thursday, but it remains to be seen whether the benchmark index will be able to stay strong despite a set of bad news, according to observers.
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