South Korean stocks ended lower on Thursday, snapping its four-session winning streak as investor sentiment was battered by sluggish second-quarter corporate earnings by tech companies, analysts said. The South Korean won fell against the U.S. dollar.

The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index shed 6.49 points, or 0.31 percent, to 2,076.12. Trading volume was moderate at 377.4 million shares worth 5.98 trillion won ($5.82 billion), with losers outpacing gainers 427 to 382.

The KOSPI surged to the highest level since August 2011 on Wednesday, but poor second-quarter performance led by tech shares such as Samsung Electronics put a crimp on buoyed investor sentiment.

“Samsung Electronics’ downbeat earnings as well as its decision to pay the small amount of interim dividends disappointed investors,” Park Seung-young, an analyst at KDB Daewoo Securities Co., said. “In addition, the local bourse appears to be on the correction mode after it rose faster than expectations earlier this week.”

However, there is still room for hike for market heavyweights in the auto and banking sectors, though they were expected to rise at a slower pace in coming weeks, Park said.

Foreigners shrugged off the poor earnings results, buying a net 485.6 billion won to minimize losses from domestic investors.

Retail investors and institutions offloaded 320.2 billion won and 143.9 billion won, respectively.

Samsung Electronics sank 3.73 percent to 1.34 million won after the tech giant announced weakened second-quarter earnings from its mobile division’s lackluster performance in the face of competition from Apple Inc. and rising Chinese handset makers.

Samsung’s decision to pay the same interim dividend from last year, despite the government’s recent push for higher share of dividend, also disappointed investors, weighing down on the nation’s market kingpin by market value.

Naver, the operator of the nation’s No. 1 portal that announced its faltering second-quarter results before the market opening, dipped 2.6 percent to 749,000 won.

Financial groups extended their gains on the positive outlook driven by the government’s stimulus measures to revitalize domestic consumption and the equity market.

Woori Finance Holdings rose 1.44 percent to 14,050 won, and Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance advanced 3.28 percent to 283,000 won.

Auto shares were mixed. Top automaker Hyundai Motor gained 0.41 percent to 245,500 won, while its affiliate Kia Motors lost 0.16 percent to 60,900 won.

SK Telecom, the nation’s largest mobile carrier, gained 1.73 percent to 264,000 won,

The local currency ended at 1027.9 won to the greenback, down 3.6 won from Wednesday’s close. (Yonhap)