KOSPI Held 7,000 Today, But Watch One Thing Tomorrow Morning

Today's Mood

KOSPI rose for a third straight session and climbed back above 7,000. Gains narrowed partway through the day, but last-minute institutional buying pushed the index to a close of 7,003.74.

KOSDAQ took a breather after yesterday’s sharp rally, slipping slightly. Hopes for improving chip demand stayed intact, but stocks split by theme — chip-equipment names and defense rose while biotech fell.

Yesterday's Checkpoint, Today's Result

Yesterday’s (Oct 1) article said it would check two things by the next session — whether foreigners turn net buyers on KOSPI too, and whether the chip-equipment rally holds up in line with Micron’s $61.5 billion guidance for fiscal Q1 2027.

Foreigners sold another 136.7 billion won on KOSPI today, extending the net-selling streak to a fifth straight session — no turn yet. But the selling shrank from yesterday’s 548.5 billion won. The chip-equipment trade held up: Sungho Electronics (+9.47%), Jeju Semiconductor (+4.76%) and Daehan Optoelectronics (+4.71%) all rose together.

Institutions Kept KOSPI Above 7,000

KOSPI rose 0.46% to close at 7,003.74, back above the 7,000 line. Per Money Today’s tally, institutions net bought 381.4 billion won on KOSPI today, propping up the index, while retail investors were the biggest net sellers at 1.72 trillion won.

A late burst of institutional buying reversed the slowdown in gains seen earlier in the session.

Today's Stock: Samsung Electronics

Samsung Electronics closed flat at 276,000 won. The company has been executing its August-announced 53.29 million-share buyback at a pace of 2 million shares per trading day, and according to Hankyung, it is believed to have completed that buyback today.

Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix’s combined buybacks have run 1-1.5 trillion won a day in net buying since mid-August, acting as a volatility backstop (Hankyung). With the buying set to end, that support disappears — worth watching how flows shift from the next session.

Photo: Un ragazzo chiamato Bi / Flickr (BY-SA 2.0)

Sungho Electronics Was Today's Biggest Mover

Sungho Electronics jumped 9.47%, the largest swing among the stocks we follow today. The company has been trading as an AI-data-center silicon photonics (optical data transmission) play since it acquired optical-component maker ADS Tech last December, and it has swung sharply both ways since.

We could not confirm any new disclosure or report explaining today’s rise. Other chip-equipment names also rose the same day — Jeju Semiconductor (+4.76%) and Daehan Optoelectronics (+4.71%) — suggesting sector-wide buying rather than a stock-specific catalyst.

Why Did HPSP Fall So Hard

HPSP fell 5.07%, today’s biggest decliner. The company makes semiconductor-cleaning equipment (high-pressure hydrogen annealing), and its stock has swung sharply before whenever news of a controlling-shareholder stake sale (block deal) surfaced.

We could not confirm a specific disclosure behind today’s drop — we’ll check for one by the next session.

Foreigners Sold KOSPI for a Fifth Straight Session

Per Money Today, foreigners net sold 136.7 billion won and retail investors 1.72 trillion won on KOSPI today, while institutions were the only net buyers at 381.4 billion won. On KOSDAQ, foreigners sold 174.4 billion won, but institutions (+93.8 billion won) and retail (+81.5 billion won) bought together to support the index.

That extends foreign net selling on KOSPI to a fifth straight session. The size keeps shrinking, though — from 3.24 trillion won three days ago, to 548.5 billion won yesterday, to 136.7 billion won today.

Shinhan and Daeduck Saw the Sharpest Flow Split

Yesterday’s (Oct 1) stock-level flows show foreigners and institutions splitting most sharply on Shinhan Financial and Daeduck Electronics. Foreigners sold 278,037 shares of Shinhan Financial while institutions bought 188,675; at Daeduck Electronics, foreigners sold 147,635 shares while institutions bought 374,436. The same pattern showed up at KB Financial (foreigners -265,905 shares, institutions +114,034).

Both bank stocks rose today anyway — Shinhan 0.96%, KB 0.84% — meaning yesterday’s institutional buyers outweighed the sellers.

Biotech Was Today's Weakest Sector

By sector average, robotics (+2.39%) and secondary batteries (+1.89%) led, while biotech (-2.38%) lagged the most. Among the three biotech names we follow, Samsung Biologics fell hardest at -4.51%, with Alteogen (-2.08%) and Celltrion (-0.54%) also down.

We could not confirm a specific disclosure or report behind today’s biotech weakness — it looks like relative underperformance as money rotated into chips and defense.

Defense and Batteries Had a Good Day

Shipbuilding-and-defense split internally: Hanwha Aerospace rose 3.68% while HD Hyundai Heavy Industries fell 1.27%. Hanwha Aerospace has been adding to its stake in Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI), and brokerages have set price targets ranging from the upper-100,000s to 1.8 million won.

In batteries, LG Energy Solution rose 2.91%, outpacing Ecopro BM (+0.87%).

Brokerages Keep Raising Chip Price Targets

For beginners: forward P/E measures a stock’s price against expected earnings for the next year, not this year. A lower number means the stock is cheap relative to the earnings it’s expected to make.

Our large-cap chip names trade at a forward P/E of 3.9x for both Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix — 73.0% and 70.6% below their brokerage price targets, respectively (Yahoo Finance consensus). Per Asia Business Daily, on Sept 30 Yuanta Securities raised its Samsung Electronics target from 530,000 to 630,000 won, while Mirae Asset Securities put a 3.1 million won target on SK Hynix — a sign that Q3 operating-profit expectations are rising fast.

Today's Biggest Movers

Among the stocks we follow, the day’s biggest gainer was Sungho Electronics (+9.47%) and the biggest decliner was HPSP (-5.07%). Jeju Semiconductor (+4.76%), Daehan Optoelectronics (+4.71%) and Hanwha Aerospace (+3.68%) followed on the upside; decliners included Samsung Biologics (-4.51%), Alteogen (-2.08%) and Jusung Engineering (-1.66%).

Gainers and decliners were evenly mixed today — the index rose on institutional buying, but money rotated by theme beneath the surface.

KOSDAQ and the Won

KOSDAQ fell 0.11% to 893.29, pausing after yesterday’s sharp rally. Alteogen (-2.08%), one of KOSDAQ’s largest names by market cap, wobbled, even as individual chip-equipment names stayed strong.

The won strengthened, with the USD-KRW rate (per Hana Bank’s notice rate) falling 0.92% to 1,347.0. That comes as the US 10-year Treasury yield climbed to 5.29% over the past 90 days, a 24-year high — the currency’s direction should become clearer after tonight’s US September nonfarm payrolls report.

Tonight's US Jobs Report Is the Swing Factor

Whether KOSPI holds its grip on 7,000 through the next session (Monday, Oct 5) hinges on two things. One is tonight’s US September nonfarm payrolls report — the 24-year-high Treasury-yield spike and pullback that yesterday’s article flagged could be shaken up again by this data.

The other is whether foreign KOSPI selling turns to buying. The selling streak has run five straight sessions and keeps shrinking, but hasn’t flipped yet. Samsung Electronics’ buyback ending today is also a factor — with that volatility backstop gone, the index could swing more from the next session.

Worth Watching Today

Korea’s insider-buying filings show Hantop CEO Ryu Ji-hoon made four open-market purchases of company stock between Sept 28 and Oct 2. The amounts were 126.6 million won on Sept 28 and 114.3 million won on Sept 29, then jumped to 536.8 million won on Oct 1 and 384.6 million won on Oct 2 — 1.16 billion won in total over the four days.

We treat this as a reference point, not a signal. Hantop isn’t on the list of stocks we follow, and one executive’s buying streak doesn’t guarantee the company’s direction. Still, the sharp jump in purchase size from late September into October is worth noting.