According to MP Doctor, as of 9:08 a.m. today, the KOSPI stands at 6,834.68, down 77.69 points (1.12%) from the previous trading day. The index opened at 6,846.54, down 65.83 points (0.95%) from the previous close, and has since extended its losses.
In terms of market sentiment, foreign investors and institutions are both selling. Based on NextTrade (NXT) data, foreign investors are net sellers of 149.9 billion won worth of stocks on the KOSPI market, while institutions are net sellers of 192.8 billion won. Retail investors are absorbing the selling pressure with net purchases totaling 326.8 billion won.
Overnight, the New York stock market closed higher, buoyed by strong earnings from NVIDIA and Salesforce. Despite uncertainties such as the delay in the resumption of U.S.-Iran negotiations and the possibility of U.S. President Donald Trump expanding tariffs on semiconductors, NVIDIA surged 8.7% and Salesforce soared 22.6%, highlighting the momentum in artificial intelligence (AI) investments. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index also rose by more than 2%.
NVIDIA reported revenue of $96.22 billion for the second quarter of fiscal year 2027 (May–July), a 106% increase year-over-year, exceeding market expectations. In particular, the company’s revenue growth forecast for fiscal year 2028—70%—significantly surpassed the market consensus of 44%, fueling expectations for sustained AI demand. This is also seen as a positive factor for memory demand—including high-bandwidth memory (HBM) and DRAM—and pricing power.
However, the domestic stock market appears to be struggling to find further upward momentum, as it had already largely priced in NVIDIA’s strong earnings the previous day. The previous day, the KOSPI opened at 6,996.12, up 2.76% on the back of NVIDIA’s strong earnings, coming very close to the 7,000 mark. However, it pared its gains and closed at 6,912.37 after the Bank of Korea’s Monetary Policy Committee raised the benchmark interest rate by 0.25 percentage points from 2.75% to 3.00% annually.
Market attention is now focused on Chair Wash’s speech at the Jackson Hole Symposium, scheduled for 11:00 p.m. tonight. Given that the recent rise in long-term Treasury yields has increased stock market volatility, the Fed’s stance on future monetary policy and further tightening is expected to influence risk appetite.
Han Ji-young, an analyst at KIWOOM Securities, commented, “Despite the strength in the U.S. Nasdaq and the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index driven by NVIDIA and Salesforce, the domestic stock market today is likely to see a wait-and-see trend due to perceptions that the previous day’s gains had already been priced in, as well as anticipation of Chairman Kevin Warsh’s speech at Jackson Hole, leading to a pattern of sector-specific performance.”
Among the top market-cap stocks, large-cap semiconductor stocks are trading lower. SamsungElectronics(005930), the top-ranked company by market cap on the KOSPI, is trading at 261,500 won, down 4,500 won (1.69%) from the previous trading day. SK hynix(000660), the second-ranked company by market cap, is trading at 1,696,000 won, down 34,000 won (1.97%). SamsungElectronics(1P)(005935)(-2.06%) and SKSQUARE(402340)(-1.87%) are also down. In contrast, SamsungElectroMechanics(009150)is up 2.38%.
In particular, SAMSUNG BIOLOGICS(207940)is plummeting 7.09%. LG Energy Solution(373220)(-1.48%), Samsung Life Insurance(032830)(-1.63%), SAMSUNG C&T CORPORATION(028260)(-1.07%), and KB Financial Group(105560)(-1.25%) are also trading lower. HyundaiMotor(005380)is up 1.13%.
By sector, declining sectors are in the majority. The pharmaceutical sector is down 3.93%, marking the steepest decline, while electricity and gas (-2.19%), insurance (-1.87%), electrical and electronics (-1.53%), and manufacturing (-1.30%) are also falling. In contrast, IT services (2.48%), telecommunications (1.38%), and chemicals (0.54%) are rising.
The KOSDAQ market is fluctuating around the flat line. The KOSDAQ index opened at 835.23, down 2.42 points (0.29%) from the previous close, and has been searching for direction—first turning positive, then slipping back into negative territory. As of this writing, it stands at 839.68, up 2.03 points (0.24%) from the previous trading day.
In the KOSDAQ market, based on NXT aggregates, retail investors are net buying 45.6 billion won worth of stocks. Foreign investors are net selling 35.0 billion won, and institutional investors are net selling 10.9 billion won.
Among the top market-cap stocks, Alteogen Inc.(196170)is down 0.64% at 309,500 won, and ECOPRO CO., LTD(086520)is down 1.20% at 90,900 won. ECOPRO BM CO., LTD.(247540)(0.42%), JUSUNG ENGINEERING Co.,Ltd.(036930)(0.11%), LEENO Industrial Inc(058470)(0.60%), SIMMTECH Co., Ltd.(222800)(4.18%), and PharmaResearch(214450)(2.31%) are all trading higher. On the other hand, Rainbow Robotics(277810)(-1.38%), WONIK IPS Co.,Ltd.(240810)(-0.53%), and EO Technics Co., Ltd.(039030)(-1.23%) are trading lower.
