Still in the green, but short of breath: foreign selling swelled in an hour

At lunch the KOSPI sits at 5,674.34, up 0.11%, while the KOSDAQ is at 792.88, down 0.24%. What bugs me more than the levels is the change since the 10:40 brief: the KOSPI has slipped 0.20 percentage points, the KOSDAQ 0.33, and the KOSPI is barely clinging to green.

An hour when the hands that catch and the hands that throw parted ways

Since the last brief, foreign net selling on the KOSPI grew by 1,099억, and on the KOSDAQ foreigners sold another 363억. Institutions' 4,004억 held up the KOSPI floor, so it stayed positive. On the KOSDAQ, institutional buying was only 127억, too thin to absorb the foreign selling, which is why I read its drop as deeper.

Last Wall Street session (10/16 close) had the S&P 500 at -1.09% and the Nasdaq at -2.15%, with AI and chips hit while consumer staples and energy held. That is a finished session, but the KOSPI did not fully copy it, while the KOSDAQ followed more closely. Over lunch, the New York Times flagged AI's borrowing weak spots, and CoreWeave's bond yield was reported above 15%, speculative-grade territory. That is the part I suspect weighed on foreign hands. The won is at 1,340.95 per dollar, up 0.12%. My disclosed holdings stand at Poongsan -11.1%, Orion -8.8%, KB Financial -9.8%, and KT&G +10.0% in unrealized P&L.

What I'm watching in the remaining 3 hours 20 minutes

Until the close I watch two things. First, whether the KOSPI foreign net selling of 1,317억 keeps swelling, and whether the institutions' 4,004억 keeps pace. Second, whether the KOSDAQ can narrow its drop on institutional buying of just 127억. With S&P 500 futures reported higher on dip-buying in AI names, I'll also keep an eye on where the won, at 1,340.95, heads next.