The Korea Exchange's aftermarket concluded its first trading day with active transactions, particularly in optoelectronics and related sectors, even after regular market hours. With trading hours extended until 8 p.m., a new trading environment has emerged, allowing investors to participate in the market post-closing.
On September 14, the Korea Exchange reported that the total trading volume in the aftermarket for the securities market reached 1.3252 trillion won, accounting for 6.5% of the regular market's 20.2591 trillion won. In the KOSDAQ market, 492.5 billion won was traded, representing 8.9% of the regular market's 5.5486 trillion won.
Considering the extended trading hours, the trading volume was significant. The aftermarket trading volume in the securities market was 22,174,988 shares, which is 8.1% of the regular market's 274,996,348 shares. In the KOSDAQ market, 50,063,959 shares were traded, making up 8.0% of the regular market's 624,613,352 shares.
Trading activity was concentrated among high-volume stocks. In the securities market, optoelectronics led with approximately 28.97 million shares traded. Samsung Electronics followed with about 17.76 million shares, while SM Vexcel (approximately 10.68 million shares), HMM (approximately 10.60 million shares), and Hyundai Pharmaceutical (approximately 8.90 million shares) also ranked high in trading volume. SK Hynix recorded about 4 million shares traded, placing it 17th.
In the KOSDAQ market, Light & Electronics topped the trading volume with around 80.46 million shares. It was followed by Dream Security (approximately 38.35 million shares), Kosnine (approximately 30.53 million shares), Xgate (approximately 16.67 million shares), Samik Pharmaceutical (approximately 16.13 million shares), and JW Pharmaceutical (approximately 15.28 million shares). Stock prices showed strong performance, with Samik Pharmaceutical closing up 19.85%, and both Korea BNC and Light & Electronics rising over 12%.
The aftermarket began immediately after the regular market closed significantly lower. The KOSPI ended down 3.26% at 6,684.37, while the KOSDAQ fell 1.69% to 806.79. In the KOSPI market, foreign and institutional investors sold a net 3.29 trillion won and 1.166 trillion won, respectively, while individual investors bought a net 2.9691 trillion won.
The exchange's aftermarket operates from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. Unlike the previous single-price trading, it now employs a continuous trading method similar to the regular market, allowing real-time execution of buy and sell orders when prices match. Previously, orders were collected and executed in 10-minute intervals from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m., but now investors can respond to market conditions and stock-specific issues even after the market closes.
Notably, the overlap in operating hours between the alternative trading system (ATS) NextTrade and the Korea Exchange's aftermarket has intensified liquidity competition between the two markets. Lee Kyung-min, a researcher at Daishin Securities, stated, "Future demand for trading and competition for liquidity with NextTrade will be key variables to watch."
* This article has been translated by AI.
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