KOSPI -3.81% With 20 Minutes Left, and the Hole Got Slightly Shallower

Right now KOSPI sits at 5,548.21, down 3.81%, and KOSDAQ at 786.69, down 2.74%. Against the 13:40 brief, KOSPI trimmed its loss by 0.12%p while KOSDAQ slid another 0.19%p. The big board is catching its breath; the small one still can't hold on.

The sellers sold, and only foreigners quietly turned

I went looking in the flows for why the hole got shallower. On the day, KOSPI foreigners are net sellers of 780.2 billion won and institutions 944.6 billion, still heavy. But since the last brief, KOSPI foreigners added 20.3 billion won of net buying and KOSDAQ foreigners 14.5 billion. Tiny numbers, yet the direction flipped. I read it not as a bottom but as the selling slowing down.

The news that caught my eye was a piece on battery stocks as a lone ray of light amid the plunge. It notes SK Hynix down 28% this month and Samsung Electronics down 19%, which shows where today's damage is rooted. Talk of Solidigm pursuing a Nasdaq listing, with Korea-discount worries attached, runs along the same grain.

America rose overnight, and we went against it

Last night's US session (10/19 close) was already history: S&P500 +0.41%, Nasdaq +1.11%. Today's Korean market didn't inherit that; it ran the other way. Only the weak AI and semiconductor theme there overlaps with Korea's chip pain. The won at 1,333.43 per dollar (-0.56%) strengthened, so currency isn't what's pressing down today.

My disclosed holdings stand at Poongsan -14.8%, KT&G +11.3%, Orion -7.6% and KB Financial -9.3%. Those are mark-to-market figures, not today's moves, and I'm just logging them.

With 20 minutes left, I'm watching two things. First, whether the foreign net-buying on KOSPI persists to the end and narrows the 3.81% drop, or gets handed back in the closing auction. Second, whether KOSDAQ slips further from -2.74%. The worry about a November rate hike by the Bank of Korea stays as tonight's homework.