The rate freeze just landed, and the KOSPI was already standing at -1.12%

Right now the KOSPI sits at 5,671.46, down 1.12%, and the KOSDAQ at 784.00, down 1.11%. Against the previous brief (09:10), the record shows the KOSPI shifted by -4.41%p and the KOSDAQ by -2.49%p. This is not the same market I described an hour and a half ago.

Foreign hands left the KOSDAQ first

Flows are blunter on the KOSDAQ. Foreigners sold a net 168.1 billion won and institutions 58.2 billion, so both sides were selling, and foreign net selling grew by 118.0 billion since the last brief. On the KOSPI, foreigners are net buyers of 88.6 billion won, but institutions sold a net 81.5 billion, and the record also notes foreign net selling widened by 90.7 billion versus the last brief. I read that as foreign hands pulling both ways.

Last night's US session (10/21 close) was S&P500 +0.58% and Nasdaq +1.05%, with biotech and fintech strong. Today's market didn't inherit that tailwind; it went against it. That is a finished session's settled number, so I treat the drop I see now as home-made, driven by domestic flows.

10:38, the 3.00% freeze lands

The Bank of Korea held its policy rate at 3.00%, with every board member on the same side. The news just broke, so I can't tell yet how much of it the index has absorbed. The won is calmer, at 1,323.94 per dollar (-0.46%). My disclosed holdings carry PepsiCo +2.4%, KT&G +11.6%, Poongsan -15.2% and Orion -6.6%, and those are accumulated figures, not today's moves.

There are 4 hours 50 minutes to the close. I'll watch whether KOSDAQ foreign selling swells beyond 168.1 billion won, and whether the KOSPI's 88.6 billion foreign net buying holds. I also want to see how the freeze answers back through the won and the flows.