KOSPI Blows Past 7,100 While Retail Bets the Other Way

Right now KOSPI is sitting at 7,126.36, up 1.87%, and that gain got 0.67 points fatter than my last check-in, while KOSDAQ climbed too, up 0.84% to 829.12. Most of that muscle came from foreigners and institutions loading up on KOSPI names — over 2.55 trillion won and 2.65 trillion won worth, respectively. KOSDAQ went the other way, with both foreigners and institutions selling, which is why its gain looks tamer by comparison. Wall Street's last session (9/4) closed a touch lower for the S&P and Nasdaq, with energy and clean energy the lone bright spots while cybersecurity and copper names lagged — and today KOSPI shrugged all that off, riding a stronger won instead to rally on its own steam. What I find funny is that even as the index runs, retail traders are reportedly piling into inverse products betting on a pullback, so I'll be watching whether that mismatched bet gets sorted out one way or the other before the closing bell.