KOSDAQ Surges Over 5% Triggering Buy-side Circuit Breaker, Institutional Net Buying of 354 Billion Korean Won

August 4th. This morning, the South Korean KOSPI index showed weakness, while the KOSDAQ index surged. The Korean Exchange announced that it activated the buy-side circuit breaker (halt program trading) mechanism on the KOSDAQ market at 10:47:51 a.m. (Beijing time 09:47).

The KOSDAQ market has triggered the buy-side circuit breaker for three consecutive trading days, which were on July 31st, yesterday, and today. This is the 17th time this year, with 12 occurrences in just the last month. Strong institutional buying pressure is driving the index higher. Institutional investors net bought 354 billion Korean won on the KOSDAQ market that day, while individual investors and foreign investors net sold 167 billion Korean won and 183 billion Korean won, respectively.

The biotechnology sector performed well, with Alteogen surging over 7%; LigaChem Biosciences rising by 12.89%; ABL Bio up by 12.25%; HLB up by 9.55%; Peptron up by 9.39%; Sam Chun Dang Pharm up by 6.00%. (Jinse)