20 Minutes to the Bell: KOSPI Climbs Even as Foreigners Sell

With twenty minutes left before the close, KOSPI sits at 6,718.29 (+0.32%) and KOSDAQ at 821.13 (+0.96%), both still climbing. Compared to my 1:40pm check-in, KOSPI stretched its gain by 0.87 points and KOSDAQ by 0.45 — and the funny part is KOSPI did that while foreigners dumped over 3.6 trillion won and institutions another roughly 1.3 trillion, yet the index just kept pushing higher anyway. KOSDAQ told the opposite story, with both foreigners and institutions buying in and lending it muscle. Wall Street closed lower overnight (as of 8/24) with the S&P and Nasdaq both down and chips/clean energy notably weak, and a headline here did fret over Korean chipmakers getting rattled by Nvidia and rate worries — but the index right now doesn't seem too bothered by that shadow. In my own book, Freeport-McMoRan (the copper miner) is holding a +24.2% mark and Samsung Electronics +3.1%. With twenty minutes on the clock, I'm watching whether that foreign selling keeps this pace all the way to the bell.