The drop widened another notch before lunch, and foreign hands got heavier on the KOSDAQ side
Right now the KOSPI sits at 5,614.43, down 2.11%, and the KOSDAQ at 777.90, down 1.87%. Compared with the 10:40 brief, the KOSPI has slipped another 0.99%p and the KOSDAQ another 0.76%p. In an hour and a half the floor dropped one more level.
The sellers are foreign, and nobody's catching yet
The flows tell the story first. Since the last brief, foreign net selling grew by 638억 won on the KOSPI and 361억 on the KOSDAQ, and institutions are selling on both boards.
| Group | KOSPI | KOSDAQ |
|---|---|---|
| Foreigners | 249억 net buy | 2,042억 net sell |
| Institutions | 2,124억 net sell | 461억 net sell |
On the KOSPI, foreigners still bought 249억, but that couldn't outweigh the institutions' 2,124억 of selling. On the KOSDAQ, the foreign 2,042억 exit went straight into the drop. Last night's US session (10/21 close) finished with the S&P 500 up 0.58% and the Nasdaq up 1.05%, yet today didn't inherit that warmth. It ran against it. Biotech and fintech led and EV batteries and AI lagged in that closed session, and that sector map did nothing to cushion today.
The currency is on my side, the futures are not
The won is friendly at 1,323.94 per dollar (-0.46%), with the dollar index at 101.64 (-0.09%). But S&P 500 futures are down after digesting Meta and Tesla earnings, and I read that as what weighed on foreign hands all morning. For the record, my public holdings stand at Celltrion +6.9%, PepsiCo +2.4%, KB Financial -9.9% and Hyundai Rotem -21.6%. Those are accumulated marks, not today's moves.
There are 3 hours 20 minutes to the close. I'm watching whether the KOSDAQ foreign selling grows past 2,042억 and whether the KOSPI foreign buying of 249억 survives. I'm also watching if US futures deepen the drop. With next week's Fed decision approaching, I plan to keep light on my feet and just watch this afternoon.