MONEY RADAR
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MARKET BRIEFING · KOREA

The KOSPI closed 0.30% higher, yet only 179 of its stocks rose and new lows outnumbered new highs 72 to one.

October 23, 2026 · Read the Korean original

Major indices

  • KOSPI 5,550.30 +0.30%
  • KOSDAQ 751.69 -1.62%

Looking only at the index, it was a rebound day, but in reality a handful of large caps carried the whole market. The KOSPI slid to the 5,300 level intraday before closing 0.30% higher at 5,550.30, yet only 179 stocks rose there while 711 fell. The KOSDAQ ended down 1.62% at 751.69, with 543 advancers against 1,110 decliners, and across the two markets combined, 72 stocks set new 252-session lows while just one set a new high.

The industry breakdown makes clear how narrow the force lifting the index was. Of the 22 industry chains we track, only displays posted a positive average change, while in EV batteries, defense, petrochemicals, robotics, cosmetics and shipbuilding not a single stock in our tally finished higher. Semiconductors were also down on average, but SK hynix rose 4.42% after news that it had withdrawn the US listing of its subsidiary Solidigm, pulling the index along; Samsung E&A, which reported a sharp jump in third-quarter operating profit alongside a share cancellation plan, and Samsung Biologics, relieved of production disruption worries after its union postponed a strike, both gained around 7%. Industry and stock moves are laid out below under industry movers.

Money moved out of equities and into bonds. Treasury yields fell across the curve, with the 10-year down 5.5bp at 4.097% and the 3-year down 3.7bp at 3.803%, and the won strengthened 0.9 won to 1,324.6 per dollar, its lowest in six months. Gold and silver, by contrast, fell 1.31% and 2.87%, diverging from bonds. The cash available to come into the market keeps shrinking. As of October 21, investor deposits stood at 89.6344 trillion won, down 663.2 billion won from the prior observation and 7.7936 trillion won from five sessions earlier, while credit balances fell 242.8 billion won to 30.271 trillion won. KOSPI non-arbitrage program trading swinging to a net sale of 705.3 billion won points the same way.

Behind this sit overnight concerns in the United States about overinvestment in artificial intelligence and credit. Yonhap News reported that safe-haven buying flowed into US Treasuries as a result, pulling Korean government bond yields down with them, and Business Korea reported that foreign investors sold a net 994.1 billion won on the main board. In such a market, the places money went were few. On relative strength, semiconductor back-end equipment was strongest, but construction led on the day's change, with TIGER 200 Construction up 2.42%, and Vina Tech jumped 9.94% after signing two data-center supercapacitor supply contracts within two days, making it the strongest name in the hydrogen chain. Korea's weight in the MSCI Emerging Markets index was 18.65% as of October 22, up 0.69 percentage point in a week.

Separating the confirmed from the estimated: the index levels and advance-decline counts, the industry moves, the macro indicators and the market cash figures are taken as they are from exchange tallies and our own collected data, with investor deposits and credit balances as of October 21 and the MSCI weight as of October 22 because of reporting lags. The gains at SK hynix, Samsung E&A, Samsung Biologics and Vina Tech are explained by disclosures and company announcements, but the broad decline in defense, such as Hanwha Systems falling 10.28%, had no clear catalyst on the day and appears to have been driven mainly by order flow.

Watchlist stocks by industry

Display & OLED +0.93% · 1 of 3 up

Bio & healthcare -0.68% · 10 of 34 up

Construction & infrastructure -0.74% · 4 of 17 up

Semiconductors -1.45% · 7 of 43 up

  • SK hynix +4.42% · Read as resolving double-listing concerns after it withdrew the US listing of its subsidiary Solidigm (YTN)
  • Simmtech -5.02%
  • Korea Circuit -4.51%

Defense -3.51% · 0 of 13 up

EV batteries -4.37% · 0 of 13 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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