MONEY RADAR
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MARKET BRIEFING · KOREA

The index handed back the previous day's surge within a session, but money left semiconductors for construction, where earnings and shareholder returns were confirmed.

October 22, 2026 · Read the Korean original

Major indices

  • KOSPI 5,533.77 -3.52%
  • KOSDAQ 764.10 -3.62%

Judged by the index alone this was a day that gave back the previous session's surge in full, but beneath it the split between what rose and what fell was sharper than the day before. The KOSPI closed 3.52% lower at 5,533.77 and the KOSDAQ 3.62% lower at 764.10. On the prior session, October 21, the KOSPI gained more than 3% and yet 411 stocks rose against 460 that fell, while on the KOSDAQ the reverse held with 987 advancing and 666 declining. That tells you the lift was concentrated in a handful of large caps, and once that lift faded the index retraced just as quickly.

By industry, growth names and materials broke down together while construction alone ran the other way. Of the 22 value-chain industries only construction and hydrogen posted a positive average move, and among 43 semiconductor names and 13 EV battery names not a single stock closed higher. Construction was pulled up by Samsung E&A, which reported third-quarter operating profit up 183.6% from a year earlier and paired it with a 779.9 billion won share buyback plan (Maeil Business Newspaper), while in hydrogen the only gainer was VINA TECH, which signed a 119.5 billion won contract with Sanmina of the United States to supply supercapacitors for data centers (The Korea Economic Daily). The industry moves and the individual names are laid out below under industry highlights.

While equities broke down, the macro side was comparatively quiet. With the Bank of Korea holding its policy rate at 3.00%, the won strengthened by 2.5 won to 1,325.5 per dollar, setting a fresh six-month low, and the 10-year government bond yield eased 0.8 basis point to 4.152% while the 3-year rose 1.8 basis points to 3.84%, so the short end has not let go of its guard against another hike. Brent crude, as of October 20, also fell 3.03% to 115.22 dollars. What deserves more attention is the money still sitting inside the market. Investor deposits stood at 90.2976 trillion won as of October 20, down 1.799 trillion won from the prior observation, and credit balances at 30.5139 trillion won were 3.739 trillion won lower than five sessions earlier. Non-arbitrage program trading on the KOSPI was a net sale of 307.9 billion won today.

The selloff started with profit-taking pouring out of the large semiconductor names that had lifted the index the day before, and the end of SK hynix's buyback window, which removed the demand that had been supporting the price, is read as having widened the decline (Money Today). The Bank of Korea holding rates while leaving the door open to a further hike also left some caution behind (The Hankook Ilbo). On relative strength, however, semiconductors remain the strongest chain and the semiconductor test node within it still carries a leading signal, so the industry with the worst move on the day and the strongest relative standing are one and the same. The best-performing ETF of the day, by contrast, was TIGER 200 Construction, up 3.8%.

Separating what is confirmed from what is inferred: index moves and closing levels were verified against closing reports from several outlets, while the industry and stock moves and the macro and flow figures are collected and calculated by this site. Samsung E&A's results and buyback plan and VINA TECH's supply contract are catalysts confirmed in corporate filings, but the explanation that the semiconductor slide came from worries over the profitability of AI investment and the end of the buyback is a reading from brokerages and the press, better treated as an inference. Investor deposits, credit balances and Brent crude are as of October 20, while advance-decline counts are as of October 21.

Watchlist stocks by industry

Construction & infrastructure +1.06% · 7 of 17 up

Hydrogen +1.05% · 1 of 5 up

Power infrastructure -1.96% · 1 of 12 up

EV batteries -7.18% · 0 of 13 up

Semiconductors -5.54% · 0 of 43 up

Chemicals & refining -3.49% · 0 of 21 up

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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