The South Korean KOSPI index, which recently experienced a sharp decline, rebounded after eight trading days, driven by the return of foreign investors. However, compared to the previous seven consecutive trading days of cumulative declines of 21%, t

2026-10-16

The South Korean KOSPI index, which recently experienced a sharp decline, rebounded after eight trading days, driven by the return of foreign investors. However, compared to the previous seven consecutive trading days of cumulative declines of 21%, today's rebound was still limited. At the close, foreign investors made net purchases of 343 billion won in the South Korean securities market, ending the previous eight-day streak of net selling. However, individual investors and institutional investors were net sellers of 484.7 billion won and 683.4 billion won respectively, both showing net selling. Seo Sang-young, Managing Director of Mirae Asset Securities, believes that Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang's comments alleviated market concerns about credit risk in the AI sector, becoming one of the main catalysts driving the market rebound. However, for a truly sustainable rebound to occur, the market must dispel doubts about the profitability of AI. Li Qingmin, a researcher at Daxin Securities, stated that the key for the market going forward lies in whether the earnings reports released next week by Meta, IBM, Texas Instruments, and Western Digital can alleviate market concerns about the sustainability of AI investment and the prosperity of the semiconductor industry. LS Securities researcher Huang Shanhai analyzed that continued selling by foreign investors, coupled with the cessation of share buybacks by semiconductor giants Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, led to a cumulative gap in market buying power, amplifying the impact of negative news on stock prices. With retail and institutional investors also struggling to become trend buyers, the market attempted a rebound this week, but failed to sustain it, indicating a weakening of investor confidence. Finding clues to a return to a long-term upward trend hinges not on large technology companies further expanding investment, but on whether AI application companies can improve production efficiency, whether they possess the capacity for sustained spending, and whether these factors can help hyperscale cloud service providers restore cash flow.