They Keep Selling, Yet the KOSPI Picked Up Speed

Right now the KOSPI sits at 6,711.85, up 0.41%, while the KOSDAQ is at 820.94, up a sharper 1.75%. Compared with my last check at 10:40, the KOSPI actually widened its gain by 0.19 percentage points, but the KOSDAQ's pace cooled by the same 0.19 points. So as the day goes on, it's the big-cap side pulling more of the weight.

And yet foreigners and institutions were net sellers on the KOSPI — over 3.3 trillion and 1.1 trillion won respectively — and net sellers on the KOSDAQ too. Overnight, Wall Street actually fell, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq both down around half a percent as 10-year Treasury yields broke above 5% and Fed hike fears spiked, so today's rise here isn't just riding that wave. What seems to be filling the gap instead is homegrown: talk of companies pulling cash out of demand deposits into the market as rates bite, plus the 'Korea Premium Week' IR push regulators are running right now.

With more than three hours left before the close, I'll be watching whether that foreign and institutional selling keeps intensifying, and what aftershocks the 5% Treasury yield breach leaves for the next Wall Street session. The won eased slightly to 1,344.64 per dollar even as the dollar index actually climbed — a mixed signal worth watching a bit longer. My own book sits unchanged for the day: Microsoft +25.4%, Nvidia +2.3%, Freeport-McMoRan +6.0%, Amazon -10.3%.