KOSPI Down Over 1%, KOSDAQ Down Over 3% in a Volatile Session
At the open, the KOSPI fell about 1.8% to around 7,518 points, while the KOSDAQ dropped roughly 3.8% to the 799-point level. Foreign investors sold across both cash and futures markets, and options data showed no sign of buying interest. Institutions bought roughly 1 trillion won worth of KOSPI shares, pension funds posted small net buys for a second straight day, and buying today was led mainly by financial-investment accounts.
By the afternoon, losses narrowed — the KOSPI trimmed its decline to about -0.7%, touching the 7,600 level again. SK Hynix rose more than 3.6%, while Samsung Electronics fell about 2% but held the 290,000-won line. Foreigners kept selling, offloading roughly 560 billion won worth of shares, while institutions bought about 1.2 trillion won, led by LG Electronics and SK Hynix. The KOSDAQ, however, stayed down more than 3% at 805 points, with most large-cap names still weak.
Given the elevated volatility, the hosts repeated their standing advice: avoid aggressive buying or selling, and especially avoid leveraged trades, until volatility cools. They also urged investors to set a personal loss threshold in advance — for example, trimming 30-40% of a position if it falls more than 10 percentage points worse than the broader market — not out of pessimism but to free up cash for the next opportunity. The larger point, they said, is building a personal plan and having the courage to act on it, taking an especially longer view on semiconductor stocks.