KOSPI catches its breath while KOSDAQ sinks in a single hour

Right now KOSPI sits at 6,909.24, down 0.46%, and KOSDAQ at 911.70, down 0.89%. Against my 09:10 brief, KOSPI has clawed back 0.43%p while KOSDAQ has slid 3.87%p. Two markets in the same selloff are wearing very different faces, and that's the story this round.

Foreigners dumped KOSPI and scooped up KOSDAQ

KOSPI slipped to the 6,860 area early on under foreign net selling of 17,577억, then recovered a good chunk as Samsung Electronics bounced, and it's now tussling over the 6,900 line. KOSDAQ, meanwhile, has foreigners and institutions both net buying and still trades down 0.89%. Flows alone don't explain that drop, if you ask me. The won stayed fairly calm at 1,343.75 per dollar (+0.09%).

Last night's tailwind didn't carry over

Wall Street closed 10/6 with the S&P 500 up 0.58% and the Nasdaq up 0.45%, cybersecurity names strong and biotech weak. Yet KOSPI opened lower on the hangover from US chip weakness, so today leaned against that tailwind rather than inheriting it. My disclosed holdings are still in the red: Orion -12.5%, KB Financial -4.9%, Hyundai Rotem -1.5%, Celltrion -0.7% in unrealized P&L. I just jot the numbers in the ledger.

There are 4 hours 50 minutes until the close. I'll be watching whether KOSPI's 17,577억 of foreign net selling swells or shrinks, and which way the fight over the 6,900 line settles. For KOSDAQ, the afternoon homework is whether 1,151억 of foreign and 1,082억 of institutional buying can fill the hole, or whether the index keeps ignoring the flows.