Touched 6,400, closed at 6,258 — Seoul's rebound lasts half a day
KOSPI opened up 1%, touched 6,400, then closed down 0.60% at 6,258.77 as foreigners sold ₩856bn
The three lines
- KOSPI opened at 6,365, recovered the 6,400 line intraday, then closed down 0.60% at 6,258.77
- Foreign investors sold a net ₩856bn; institutions and retail bought but could not hold the line
- SK Hynix fell 4.88% and dragged the index — yet 60.7% of listed stocks actually rose
Key questions
- Why did KOSPI fall again after Thursday's crash
- Foreign flows flipped. Foreign investors bought chips at the open, then turned sellers around 10am and finished with ₩856bn in net sales. Institutions (+₩579bn) and retail (+₩265bn) absorbed some of it but not enough. SK Hynix's 4.88% drop did most of the index damage.
- How can the index fall while most stocks rise
- Concentration. Of 912 listed companies, 554 — 60.7% — closed higher. Pharma and biotech were strong, and Hanwha Aerospace rose over 4%. The index fell because the heavyweight chip names fell. It was a down day for the KOSPI number, not for most of the market.
- What happened to the won
- It strengthened, oddly enough. The dollar-won rate fell 7.7 won to 1,416.1, a second straight close in the 1,410s, after touching 1,425.7 early. Exporter dollar selling pushed it down — foreign equity selling did not translate into won weakness today.
Morning KOSPI and afternoon KOSPI looked like different markets. Seoul's benchmark opened Friday up 1.09% at 6,365.07 and reclaimed the 6,400 line intraday — a promising rebound from Thursday's 4% rout that triggered a sell-side sidecar. Then, around 10am, the direction flipped. The index closed down 0.60% at 6,258.77.
1. The hand that turned the market
The culprit was unambiguous: foreign investors. After buying chip heavyweights at the open, they turned net sellers around 10am and finished the day ₩856bn ($620m or so) in the red. Institutions bought ₩579bn and retail ₩265bn — a real bid, but not enough. Samsung Electronics, up over 3% in the morning, surrendered nearly all of it to close up just 0.22%. SK Hynix fell 4.88% and did most of the index damage.
The detail worth keeping is the temperature gap between the index and the market. Of 912 KOSPI-listed companies, 554 — 60.7% — closed higher. Pharma and biotech rallied. What fell was the market-cap top: chips and their supply chain. It is the same structure that has run all week — semiconductors swing the index while the rest of the market trades on its own weather.
2. Friday's session at a glance
| Item | Figure | Note |
|---|---|---|
| KOSPI | 6,258.77 (-0.60%) | Opened 6,365.07, intraday high above 6,400 |
| KOSDAQ | 798.81 (-0.36%) | Back below 800 |
| Foreign investors | -₩856bn | Turned sellers around 10am |
| Institutions / retail | +₩579bn / +₩265bn | Not enough to hold |
| SK Hynix | -4.88% | Biggest index drag |
| Samsung Electronics | +0.22% | Gave back a 3% morning gain |
| Advancers | 60.7% (554 of 912) | Pharma, biotech strong |
| Dollar-won | 1,416.1 (-7.7) | Intraday high 1,425.7 |
The currency row deserves its own read. On a down day for stocks, the won strengthened — a second straight close in the 1,410s after touching 1,425.7 early. Exporter dollar sales did the work. Foreign equity selling, in other words, did not become capital flight.
3. What remains
The week closes at: Monday -5.12%, Tuesday about -1%, Wednesday +4.33%, Thursday about -4%, Friday -0.60%. The amplitude is shrinking; the direction is still unresolved. The next input arrives tonight at 9:30pm Korea time — the US July jobs report. A big surprise in either direction lands on Seoul's Monday open. How that report works is in today's reference "The US jobs report, explained"; Thursday's crash and the sidecar mechanism are in "KOSPI gives it back in a day."