MONEY RADAR
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MARKET BRIEFING · KOREA

Semiconductors and biotech lifted both indexes, yet only 7 stocks hit 52-week highs while 11 hit new lows.

October 1, 2026 · Read the Korean original

Judging by the indexes alone both markets rallied together, but with more new lows than new highs the advance was narrower than it looked. The KOSPI closed 1.95% higher at 6,971.35 and the KOSDAQ 4.48% higher at 894.29, and across the KRX 1,829 stocks rose against 707 that fell. The KOSPI showed 556 advancers against 326 decliners while the KOSDAQ showed 1,273 against 381, a clearly different feel, and even so only 7 stocks set 252-session highs against 11 at new lows (KOSPI plus KOSDAQ), so the number of names actually at the top of their trend remained small.

Two industries, semiconductors and biotech, effectively carried the move. Among semiconductors 41 of 42 stocks rose for an average gain of 6.97%, and in biotech 32 of 34 rose for an average 4.57%. Petrochemicals, by contrast, saw only 10 of 20 stocks rise and fell 1.12% on average, while food staples had just 3 of 10 advance and slipped 0.56%, so there were clearly places left behind even as the indexes climbed.

At the single-stock level, signs of froth in biotech and an exit from refiners and banks appeared at the same time. Rznomics rose 23.28%, S&S Tech 15.39% and OliX Pharmaceuticals 14.05%, and OliX's estimated traded value on a closing-price basis of 51.1 billion won stood out even among the biotech gainers. On the downside S-OIL fell 7.98% and SK Innovation 6.18%, while Woori Financial Group dropped 4.73% on an estimated traded value of 821.2 billion won, the heaviest turnover among the day's standouts. Jaekyung Ilbo tied S-OIL's slide to a disclosure on a change of largest shareholder and attributed Woori Financial Group's weakness to a supply-demand imbalance with no specific negative news, though neither reading has been confirmed by the companies.

Currency and rates moved in a way that did not stand in the way of equities. The won closed at 1,355.7 per dollar, 2.7 won stronger than the previous day, and while the three-year government bond yield eased 0.1bp to 4.01%, the ten-year rose 2.9bp to 4.436%, so only the long end gave ground. As of September 29 the US ten-year stood at 5.26% (up 2.0bp) and the two-year at 4.89% (down 3.0bp), and on the same date WTI slumped 3.23% to 96.16 dollars and Brent 5.01% to 113.96 dollars, which framed the weakness in refiners. Gold caught its breath, down 0.15% at 4,168.51 dollars.

On the funding side the only indicator available for the day is overseas stock settlement. As of September 30 purchase settlements for overseas shares reached 1,218.6 million dollars, up 703.1 million from 515.4 million the previous day, while sale settlements fell to 557.3 million, leaving net settlement at 661.3 million dollars on the buy side. Even as the domestic market was stirred by semiconductors, money heading into overseas equities more than doubled in a single day.

The trigger for the semiconductor concentration came from the United States overnight. Newspim and Financial News reported that Micron's fiscal fourth-quarter revenue of 54.23 billion dollars beat the market consensus of 51.07 billion dollars and, combined with strong September semiconductor exports, drew buying into large-cap chipmakers and their equipment and materials suppliers. The prior US session itself was not strong, however: according to Global Economic, September ADP private payrolls of 90,000 exceeded the 68,000 forecast, leaving the Dow 0.9% lower at 50,906.05 and the S&P 500 down 0.3%, with only the Nasdaq up 0.2% at 26,861.06.

Where the money went looks slightly different depending on whether you read industries or ETFs. On relative strength the semiconductor industry led with 7 stocks in the leading zone, and within it the OSAT and packaging node scored highest at 93.15, yet the top one-day ETF return belonged to UNICORN K Bio Active at 12.63%, followed by other biotech products such as Mighty New Drug Focus Bio Active at 11.07% and TIME K Bio Active at 8.71%. The representative leading stock was 3billion Inc., in the medical devices and diagnostics part of the biotech industry, which carried the highest StockRank at 74.27 yet gained only 0.78% on the day (closing at 6,490 won) and filed a disclosure of an investor relations briefing. Daeduck Electronics, the next candidate, rose 12.75%, which shows how far apart the highest-scoring name and the day's biggest gainer can be.

Broken out by section, the percentage moves and advancer counts for the market, industries and standout stocks, the macro indicators and overseas settlement figures, and the industry and ETF scores are all collected and calculated by this site. Micron's results, the prior US index levels and 3billion's disclosure of an investor relations briefing are confirmed facts from announcements and filings. Explaining the semiconductor and biotech surge by Micron's results and strong exports is press interpretation, however, and the change of largest shareholder at S-OIL and the supply-demand strain at Woori Financial Group rest on reporting alone, so the real causes may differ. Estimated traded value is the closing price multiplied by volume, so it is worth keeping in mind that it differs from actual transaction value.

In the end the character of the day lay less in the direction of the indexes than in how narrow the concentration was. Whether an investor held semiconductors and biotech decided how the day actually felt, and refiners and banks sat on the other side of that line.

Sources (Korean-language)

This market briefing was compiled by AI from this site's own price and filing data together with public news reports, and translated from the Korean original. Please check the sources below before relying on it.

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