MONEY RADAR
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MARKET BRIEFING · KOREA

The index clung to 5,000 while the entire AI infrastructure complex collapsed, and only those expecting a spillover benefit from the new restrictions finished higher.

November 6, 2026 · Read the Korean original

Major indices

  • KOSPI 5,059.69 -6.02%
  • KOSDAQ 644.27 -5.03%

Holding the 5,000 line on the index was the least bad part of the day; underneath it was worse. The KOSPI closed 6.02% lower at 5,059.69 and the KOSDAQ fell 5.03% to 644.27, with a circuit breaker and a sell-side sidecar both triggered within minutes of the open. Only 158 KOSPI names rose against 734 decliners, and the KOSDAQ showed 341 advancers against 1,350 decliners. Across both markets, 252-session highs shrank to three names while new lows swelled to 193.

What dragged the market down was not one industry but the whole AI infrastructure complex. Not a single one of the 43 semiconductor names finished higher, and power infrastructure, nuclear power and EV batteries followed with declines in the 7% range. The only industry to end positive was entertainment, where NHN surged on its own on expectations that US data center restrictions would benefit existing facilities and non-US operations (News1). Industry moves and individual names are laid out below under industry highlights.

Part of the money leaving stocks moved into bonds. The three-year Korean treasury yield fell 5.6 basis points to 3.613% and the ten-year fell 3.4 basis points to 3.853%, the lowest level of the past six months. The won eased 1.3 won to 1,342.0 per dollar, while gold and silver fell 1.34% and 1.64%, so metals slid along with everything else even within safe havens. As of November 4, investor deposits stood at 89.2273 trillion won, up 986.0 billion won, while credit financing balances fell 305.6 billion won to 28.6446 trillion won, a picture of investors paying down leverage and holding cash. KOSPI non-arbitrage program trading was a net sale of 1.6398 trillion won, bringing the five-session total to 6.0742 trillion won, and Korea's weight in the MSCI Emerging Markets index was 19.33% as of November 4, down 0.78 percentage points in a week.

The trigger was the US midterm elections. With Democrats taking both chambers, worries spread that AI data center construction would face tighter regulation, and that doubt broadened into investment that consumes large amounts of power and water, as reported by Wolyo Shinmun and the Korea Economic Daily. Intraday, the government suspended the collateral ratio requirement on margin loans for three months to curb forced liquidations first (Newsway). That shipbuilding, specifically the plate and equipment node, screened as the strongest industry on relative strength means less damaged rather than strong, and the only ETFs with positive daily returns were software-oriented ones such as UNICORN Generative AI Small-Cap Active, up 3.27%. Lead stock LX Semicon fell 4.58% to 22,900 won.

Separating the confirmed from the inferred: index moves and closing levels were verified at the same values across several closing reports, and industry and stock moves along with advance-decline counts are computed by this site. Why individual names moved as much as they did mostly rests on press explanations and is therefore inferred. Korea Investment Holdings' 17.34% drop was attributed to a third-quarter earnings shock and target price cuts (Moneystorm) and Kumho Petrochemical's 17.34% fall to a third-quarter earnings shock (Yonhap Infomax), while InBody, down 26.61%, appears to have given back the previous day's surge. The fund-flow figures and the MSCI weight are as of November 4, and on the currency our collected value is 1,342.0 won while closing reports describe the won weakening into the 1,350s intraday, so the reference times may differ.

Watchlist stocks by industry

Semiconductors -9.18% · 0 of 43 up

Power infrastructure -7.90% · 1 of 12 up

Nuclear power -7.46% · 0 of 9 up

EV batteries -7.32% · 0 of 13 up

Shipbuilding -6.02% · 0 of 15 up

Entertainment & content +0.95% · 10 of 19 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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