Twenty minutes to the bell, the sellers slowed down a beat
Right now the KOSPI sits at 5,699.35, up 0.55%, and the KOSDAQ at 799.22, up 0.56%. Against the 13:40 brief, the KOSPI has added 0.10%p and the KOSDAQ 0.12%p. It has crept up the stairs all afternoon, and I'll admit I don't mind the slow pace.
The sellers took a step back
| Market | Foreigners | Institutions |
|---|---|---|
| KOSPI | 132.4bn won net sold | 694.4bn won net bought |
| KOSDAQ | 106.3bn won net sold | 25.6bn won net bought |
Foreigners are still net sellers, but since the last brief they have added 16.6bn won of net buying on the KOSPI and 6bn won on the KOSDAQ. While their selling hand slowed, institutions at 694.4bn won propped up the KOSPI. Among the news, Nasdaq 100 futures up 1.3% warmed the mood across Asia. The KOSPI fell 11% last week, which makes today's 0.5% gain stand out more.
Last US session (10/16 close) was S&P 500 -1.09% and Nasdaq -2.15%, with AI and chips weak. Today's market did not simply inherit that; it pushed back once. Still, that is a finished session's fixed number, a different scene from the futures moving now. My disclosed holdings stand at Microsoft +33.9%, NVIDIA Corporation +0.4%, Freeport-McMoRan Inc. +3.7% and Amazon.com Inc. -12.7%, and I note only that these are unrealized gains and losses, not today's moves.
Two things I'm watching into the close. Does the foreign net selling of 132.4bn won shrink further, and what face does the won at 1,340.95 per dollar (+0.12%) show the closing stretch, rising while the dollar index sits at 101.84 (-0.16%)? For the last 20 minutes I just keep my eyes on the numbers.