Kospi and Kosdaq Trim Their Losses, But Foreigners Are Still Selling
Right now the Kospi sits at 6,850.03, down -0.58%, and the Kosdaq is at 840.87, down -0.67%. It's 12:10 KST, three hours and twenty minutes from the close, and compared to the 10:40 brief, the Kospi has clawed back +0.29 points and the Kosdaq +0.43 points of decline. It's not a reversal, but there's more breathing room than there was earlier this morning.
The Shadow of the 10-Year Hitting 5.2%, Though the Currency Side Is Cutting Me a Break
For the reason, I have to start with overnight Wall Street (9/28 close). The S&P 500 fell -0.77% and the Nasdaq -0.92%, and behind that drop sits the news that the US 10-year Treasury yield broke above 5.2% for the first time in 19 years. With talk that Treasury demand is shifting toward rate-sensitive private buyers who may start demanding higher compensation, today's caution across Kospi and Kosdaq reads as an extension of that overnight mood. Still, the won moved to 1,354.51 per dollar, down -0.94%, while the dollar index sits at 101.20, up only +0.23% — so currency and commodities are actually leaning friendly. On sectors, overnight Wall Street saw bio/healthcare strength and gold-mining/clean-energy weakness, which is worth keeping in mind too.
The flow picture shows a real split (1 eok = KRW 100 million).
| Market | Foreign | Institutional |
|---|---|---|
| Kospi | 32,682 eok net sell | 10,169 eok net sell |
| Kosdaq | 538 eok net buy | 730 eok net sell |
Kospi is getting sold by both foreigners and institutions together, while on the Kosdaq, foreigners actually net-bought 538 eok. Given that the Kosdaq's index drop was actually the bigger one, its flow looks less bad by comparison, and that split seems tied to the narrower decline versus the last brief (+0.43 points).
My own holdings sit unchanged regardless of today's swings. Microsoft is at +30.6%, NVIDIA Corporation at +5.5%, Freeport-McMoRan Inc. at +7.9%, and Poongsan at +6.6% in unrealized gains — that's not today's scorecard, it's the number built up so far.
With three hours and twenty minutes left before the close, there are two things to watch. Whether the foreign selling dumping 32,682 eok on the Kospi keeps going through the afternoon, and whether the tension from the 10-year's break above 5.2% ends up smothering even the small warmth of the Kosdaq's 538 eok net buying. Whether this narrowing decline holds all the way to the close is today's thing to watch.