Hynix Drags KOSPI Higher, Afternoon Rally Picks Up Steam

Right now KOSPI is up 6.59% at 6,897.84 and KOSDAQ is up 2.13% at 842.00 — both running hot. Compared to my last brief, KOSPI added another 0.92 points of gain and KOSDAQ 0.37, so the afternoon session clearly kicked into a higher gear. Foreigners and institutions dumped roughly 3.47 trillion and 1.34 trillion won worth of KOSPI stocks respectively, yet the index still ripped higher — JPMorgan calling SK Hynix's rough patch over, with talk of a 40 trillion won buyback and 100 trillion won in shareholder returns, seems to have dragged the whole index up on the back of a couple of chip giants. Overnight in the US (8/19 close), AI memory names actually got hit hard as Treasury yields spiked, so today's domestic move is running in the opposite direction from that. With about ninety minutes left before the close, I'm watching how far this narrow, mega-cap-driven rally can keep stretching.