The Weight of a 3% Rate Presses KOSPI Right Up to the Bell

With twenty minutes left in the session, KOSPI sits at 6,784.39, down 1.85%, and KOSDAQ's off 0.32% at 834.96. Since my 1:40pm update the slide got worse, not better — KOSPI down another 0.81 points, KOSDAQ another 0.33 — so the afternoon leaned heavier as it went. Overnight Wall Street was warm, Nasdaq up 1.57%, but KOSPI never caught any of that glow; foreigners and institutions were both net buyers today and the index still slid, which tells me the 3% policy rate is sitting on sentiment well beyond just KOSDAQ's growth names. The won ticked a touch weaker to 1,383.49, and in my own book Deuksan Neolux is still down 8.6% while Poongsan's holding a 25.3% paper gain. The last twenty minutes come down to whether that foreign-and-institutional buying holds through the close or fades right at the bell.