KOSPI Jumps Past 2%, Foreign and Institutional Buying Doing the Heavy Lifting

Right now the KOSPI sits at 6,954.69, up 2.07%, while the KOSDAQ is a much calmer 862.78, up just 0.16%. Since my last check-in, KOSPI's gain has stretched another 0.25 points, and that's foreigners buying in around 2.11 trillion won and institutions adding another 683 billion — that's what's been pushing this tape higher. The KOSDAQ's a different story: foreigners and institutions both flipped to net selling there, so it's stuck treading water while KOSPI runs — that gap in flows is basically today's whole plot. Overnight in New York (8/13 close), the S&P and Nasdaq closed up 0.65% and 0.81% with cloud names leading, and KOSPI looks like it's riding that same tailwind — my Microsoft position is still sitting on a +25.7% paper gain, for what it's worth. With about 20 minutes left before the close, whether that foreign-and-institutional buying holds all the way to the bell is the thing I'm watching.