KOSPI Clears 6,600 and Accelerates as Chip Exports Warm the Won

Right now KOSPI is up 1.65% at 6,687.77 and KOSDAQ up 2.66% at 811.26 — both running hotter than my noon (12:10) check-in, up another 0.46pp and 0.18pp respectively. Wall Street's overnight gains (S&P 500 +1.06%, Nasdaq +1.40%) seem to have carried over, and news that July's current account surplus hit the second-largest on record, riding strong chip exports, added more fuel. On the KOSPI side institutions did the heavy lifting, buying up ₩914.3bn worth, but oddly KOSDAQ climbed even faster while both foreigners and institutions were net sellers there — looks like retail money was doing the pushing. The won firmed to 1,358.39 (-1.05%) and the dollar index slipped 0.56%, both pointing the same way toward risk appetite. In my book, Poongsan (+9.8%) and Samsung Electronics (+1.9%) are smiling while Duksan Neolux (-7.7%) and KT&G (-1.0%) are still in the red, and I've got an hour fifty left before the close to watch how this holds up.