KOSPI Slips Back Below 7000 as Losses Widen, KOSDAQ Holds Up Better

KOSPI sits at 6,725.83, down 2.66%, while KOSDAQ is at 814.14, off 0.79%, as we head into the final stretch. Compared to my brief from an hour and a half ago, KOSPI's drop has widened by another 0.57 points, but KOSDAQ actually clawed back 0.17 points — so even inside this same sell-off, the two indices are telling different stories.

There's word that KOSPI briefly fell more than 3% earlier today and slipped back under the 7000 line, and the story behind it is a mix of worries that AI-driven growth is cooling off and concern that the US might hike rates. Foreigners dumped 2.2984 trillion won worth of KOSPI stocks and institutions sold another 1.2184 trillion won, and with the won sliding to 1,348.17 per dollar (+0.67%), that weaker currency gave foreign outflows an extra push. Worth remembering that the last US session (9/11 close: S&P500 +0.86%, Nasdaq +0.96%) was actually strong on chips and AI — so today our market inherited the deceleration worries instead of that tailwind.

With about an hour and fifty minutes left before the close, I'm watching whether foreign and institutional selling keeps up this pace and whether the won keeps weakening. Whether KOSDAQ holds onto its relative resilience through the close is another thing worth watching. For what it's worth, my paper portfolio currently shows Microsoft +25.4%, NVIDIA +2.3%, Freeport-McMoRan +6.0%, and Amazon -10.3%.