Kospi +0.15%, Kosdaq -0.23%—foreigners split the open

Right now Kospi sits at 7,017.91, up +0.15%, while Kosdaq trades at 834.38, down -0.23%. We're just past the open, so there's still 6 hours 20 minutes left until the close. Measured against yesterday's 15:10 brief, Kospi's gain eased by 0.25 percentage points and Kosdaq's drop widened by 0.07 — yet in that same window foreigners actually leaned in harder, adding 40.8 billion won more in net buying on Kospi and swinging 43.0 billion won further toward buying on Kosdaq.

Foreigners only held up the Kospi side

Pull the numbers apart and the split gets clear. On Kospi, foreign net buying of 47.9 billion won held the tape while institutions pressed down with 129.5 billion won of net selling, and on Kosdaq even foreigners flipped to 56.6 billion won of net selling while institutions added another 95.2 billion won on the sell side — both hands pushing down at once. Overnight in the US (9/22 close), the S&P 500 was flat at +0.00% and the Nasdaq added +0.45%, with semiconductors and AI strong while energy and financials lagged — a split that carried straight into this morning's local headlines, where Meritz Securities lifted its Samsung Electro-Mechanics target from 1.4 million won to 2.2 million won citing "AI value-chain upside," and FADU got a note on AI-driven eSSD demand from expanding hyperscaler clients. The won firmed too, with dollar-won down -0.81% to 1,373.68.

The numbers right now

My disclosed holdings sit at Microsoft +26.0%, NVIDIA +7.3%, Freeport-McMoRan +10.9%, and Amazon -10.9% — just the unrealized marks as they stand, nothing more.

For the 6 hours 20 minutes left, I'm watching whether the calm, easy-rates-and-credit mood — the kind that let consumer sentiment bounce to 106.6, its first rise in a month, — can keep pressing down on Kosdaq's combined foreign-and-institutional selling, and whether the foreign buying propping up Kospi holds all the way to the close.