KOSPI at 6,431.10: the slide widened another notch after lunch
Right now the KOSPI sits at 6,431.10, down 2.94%, and the KOSDAQ at 855.04, down 4.17%. Since my 12:10 brief the KOSPI has slipped another 0.60%p and the KOSDAQ 0.75%p. The drop didn't ease after lunch; it opened up one more notch, and I stared at those numbers for a good while.
A KOSPI with no one left to catch it
| Segment | Foreign | Institutional |
|---|---|---|
| KOSPI | 20,767억 net sold | 16,750억 net sold |
| KOSDAQ | 780억 net bought | 1,075억 net sold |
On the KOSPI, foreigners and institutions are selling in the same direction, so there's hardly a hand left to take the other side. A story ran saying Samsung Electronics posted a record 107조 in operating profit and the index still went the other way. I read that as good earnings alone not being enough to stop this selling. On the KOSDAQ, foreigners bought 780억, but institutional selling of 1,075억 pressed it down.
Last US session (10/9 close) ended with the S&P500 +0.59% and the Nasdaq +0.64%, cybersecurity strong, semiconductors and aerospace weak. That session is already history, but today's Korean market didn't inherit its warmth; it only picked up the semiconductor softness. On top of that came the parliamentary audit news of the BOK governor discussing back-to-back rate hikes in July and August, and the won at 1,342.99 per dollar (+0.29%). My disclosed holdings read NVIDIA +7.5%, Freeport-McMoRan +9.9%, Amazon.com -8.3%, Microsoft +0.0%, which are valuation gains and losses, not today's moves.
With 1 hour 50 minutes to the close, I'm watching three things: whether the KOSPI foreign net selling of 20,767억 keeps swelling, whether the KOSDAQ foreign net buying of 780억 holds, and whether the pace of that extra -0.60%p since 12:10 carries through to the bell. The dollar index at 102.21 is calm, so I'll keep one eye on whether the won moves on its own.