The open slipped below 5,768, and even the chip tailwind couldn't hold it
The index sheet in my hands says KOSPI 5,768.01 (+1.76%) and KOSDAQ 808.89 (+1.78%), but the news tells me those are yesterday's (the 19th) closing numbers. Today opened at 5733.57, down 0.60%, with KOSDAQ also opening lower. Looks like the market handed back part of yesterday's gain right at the bell.
Why it fell despite the tailwind
| Item | Value |
|---|---|
| KOSPI foreigners | 356억 net sold |
| KOSPI institutions | 1,519억 net sold |
| KOSDAQ foreigners | 584억 net sold |
| KOSDAQ institutions | 440억 net sold |
Overnight the S&P500 closed +0.41% and the Nasdaq +1.11%, and the Philadelphia semiconductor index, after eight straight down sessions, turned up (10/19 close, a session that's already over). Even so, KOSPI opened under pressure from chips and battery names, and as the table shows, foreigners and institutions are selling together in both markets. After yesterday's big climb, I read it as profit-takers moving first. US sector flow, with AI and semis weak and staples and materials strong, is no light load for a chip-heavy market like ours.
The won helped a little at 1,333.43 per dollar (-0.56%), but the dollar index at 101.98 (+0.14%) keeps me from relaxing. My public holdings stand at Microsoft +35.0%, NVIDIA +1.8%, Freeport-McMoRan +4.1% and Amazon -8.3%, exactly as marked. That's a record of P&L, not of today's moves.
Six hours twenty minutes remain. First I'll watch whether selling continues below the 5733.57 open and whether the 356억 foreign net selling shrinks. I'll also watch whether chips catch up late to the US rebound, and whether the soft real-economy data and lingering rate and credit pressure keep weighing on flows.