20 Minutes to the Close: KOSPI Catches Its Breath, KOSDAQ Holds Steady

Right now KOSPI sits at 6,896.49 (+1.30%) and KOSDAQ at 836.33 (+1.14%), with about twenty minutes left before the bell. Compared to my 1:40pm brief, KOSPI has cooled off by 0.42 points while KOSDAQ barely budged, and somewhere in between, word spread that the Bank of Korea just hiked rates for a second straight month — enough to make everyone pause for a beat. KOSPI held its ground because institutions bought about ₩761.5bn even as foreigners dumped ₩114.8bn, while KOSDAQ kept climbing despite both foreigners and institutions selling. Overnight Wall Street basically went nowhere (S&P500 -0.02%, Nasdaq -0.08%), so today's strength here isn't borrowed momentum — it's homegrown. My Poongsan position is still holding strong at +20.1%, Samsung Electronics is +6.2%, KT&G is -0.2%, and Isu Petasys is -6.5% — I'm just watching those sit as they are, and the last thing I'm watching into the close is whether that institutional buying keeps showing up in the final auction.