Hana Bank dealing room in Jung-gu, Seoul. /Courtesy of News1

The domestic stock market entered a period of consolidation, driven by profit-taking sales following a recent surge.

As of 9:05 a.m. on the 26th, the KOSPI index recorded 3101.13, down 7.12 points (0.23%) from the previous trading day. Foreign and institutional investors are net selling 76.9 billion won and 57.8 billion won, respectively, while individual investors are showing a net buying advantage of 124.9 billion won.

Among the top market capitalization stocks, Samsung Electronics, Samsung Biologics, LG Energy Solution, Hyundai Motor Company, and NAVER are declining, while SK hynix, Hanwha Aerospace, Doosan Enerbility, and HD Hyundai Heavy Industries are rising. Shinhan Financial Group, which initially planned to buy back and retire 500 billion won worth of shares by August, is up 1.40%.

At the same time, the KOSDAQ index recorded 795.10, down 3.11 points (0.39%) from the previous trading day. Foreign and institutional investors are net selling 72.8 billion won and 8.8 billion won, respectively, while individual investors are net buying 81.1 billion won.

Among the top market capitalization stocks, Alteogen, Ecopro BM, HLB, and Rainbow Robotics are declining. Some bio-related stocks, such as Peptron, LigaChem Biosciences, and Kolon TissueGene, are rising.

Overnight, major indices on the New York Stock Exchange finished mixed. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.25%, while the Standard & Poor's (S&P) 500 index closed unchanged. The Nasdaq Composite Index rose 0.31%. It appears that the lack of significant news amid the ceasefire agreement between Iran and Israel has limited investors' buying sentiment as key indices have approached all-time highs.

Lee Seong-hoon, a researcher at Kiwoom Securities, noted that "the domestic stock market is expected to rebound centered on semiconductor stocks, reflecting Micron's earnings, which exceeded market expectations, and NVIDIA's record-breaking news. However, given that the domestic stock market has entered a technically overheated phase amid a recent rapid rally, a consolidation trend in the indices is likely to occur."