20 Minutes to the Bell: KOSPI Smiles, KOSDAQ Cries After the Samsung Electro-Mechanics Circuit Breaker

Right now KOSPI is grinning above 6,903, up 0.75%, while KOSDAQ is bleeding down toward 800, off 4.78%. Compared to my last check-in, KOSPI nudged a touch better (+0.11pp) and KOSDAQ's slide got even deeper (-0.07pp), so the gap between the two boards actually widened heading into the close. KOSDAQ's mess traces back to Samsung Electro-Mechanics tumbling past 6% intraday down to the 1.3-million-won level, bad enough to trip a sell-side circuit breaker, while KOSPI held up because foreigners poured in over 1.7 trillion won, more than offsetting institutional selling (489.5bn won) — which means KOSPI actually pushed against last night's down close on Wall Street (S&P -0.87%, Nasdaq -1.00%). Among my holdings, Leeno Industrial (-7.8%) and Duksan Neolux (-9.1%) are sitting right in the middle of today's KOSDAQ rout, while ConocoPhillips (+6.3%) and SLB (-0.4%) I'm just watching from the sidelines. With 20 minutes left to the bell, I'm watching whether KOSDAQ claws back some ground once the circuit breaker lifts, and whether KOSPI's foreign buying holds up all the way to close.