The KOSPI closed at 6,345.53 (+0.73%) as Samsung Electronics jumped 4.13% and foreign buyers returned. A roughly 5% oil spike on Strait of Hormuz tensions pushed the won down to around 1,417 per dollar, while the KOSDAQ faded to a 0.39% gain amid heavy intraday foreign selling.
Korea’s customs service publishes preliminary export data on the 1st, 11th and 21st of every month — one of the earliest official readings on global chip demand. Here is what each release contains, why working-day-adjusted daily averages beat the headline YoY number, and how Samsung Electronics and SK hynix trade the print.
Korea’s KOSDAQ surged 6.97%, fast enough to trip a buy-side sidecar curb, as money rotated out of Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix into biotech, construction and battery names. The KOSPI added 0.65% to hold near 6,300.
The KOSPI opened more than 1% higher and touched 6,415 before closing down 0.60% at 6,258.77 as foreign investors turned sellers. Battery, defense and bank stocks rallied in intraday trading while semiconductors stayed weak ahead of US July payrolls.
Standard monthly KOSPI 200 options expire on the second Thursday of each month and settle against the 15:20-15:30 closing auction, so some hedge- and arbitrage-linked program flows concentrate into those final ten minutes. Here is how to read the futures basis and KRX program-trade balance beforehand — and what those indicators can and cannot tell you — with a worked reading of August 2026 foreign-flow data.
Korea’s KOSPI fell 4.58% as Samsung Electronics and SK hynix tracked the Nasdaq’s AI-spending scare, triggering a sell-side sidecar. KOSDAQ closed higher on a biotech rotation, and retail investors bought the dip against heavy foreign selling.
Korea’s KOSPI closed at 6,598.26, up 3.76%, after AI semiconductor euphoria from Wall Street triggered a buy-side sidecar and produced 12 limit-up stocks — the most in a day since tracking began in June 2022. Foreigners bought over 1.4 trillion won intraday while retail investors sold.
A day after a 5.12% plunge, the KOSPI swung from +1.8% to -2.7% intraday before stabilizing near 6,228 by late morning, as Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix steadied. The KOSDAQ was up nearly 5% by late morning, triggering its third consecutive buy-side sidecar as money rotated into biotech, robotics and batteries. Figures for August 4 are an intraday snapshot, not final closes.
Korea imports roughly 95% of its energy, so an oil spike widens the trade deficit, pressures the won (which closed at 1,423.98 per dollar on August 4, 2026), feeds inflation, and triggers foreign selling on the KOSPI. Here is the full transmission chain, the sectors hit in each direction, and the exact data releases to watch.
The KOSPI fell 5.12% to 6,257.45 as traders booked profits from Friday’s record 17.91% surge, with Samsung Electronics and SK hynix both down almost 9%. The KOSDAQ climbed 2.44% and triggered a buy sidecar as money rotated into bio and robotics names.