Judged only by the index, it was a down day, but more stocks rose than fell inside the market. KOSPI slipped 0.48% to 6838.04, a fourth straight decline, while KOSDAQ rose 0.72% to 855.91; by stock counts KOSPI was evenly split with 419 up against 449 down, while KOSDAQ clearly favored gainers with 905 up and 751 down. Across KOSPI and KOSDAQ combined there were only 6 new 252-session highs and 11 new lows, few on both sides, so the index decline looked less like broad selling than a pullback concentrated in the large caps that move the index.
The gap between the index and the breadth comes from how differently industries traded. Among the industries we track, hydrogen was strongest with an average gain of 4.78% and 4 of 5 stocks higher, followed by EV batteries at 2.11% with 12 of 13 higher and steel at 1.58% with 9 of 14 higher, so materials and energy names rose fairly evenly. On the other side, financials had no gainers at all among 17 stocks and fell 3.01% on average, cosmetics fell 2.91% with only 1 of 12 higher, and automotive managed just 1 gainer out of 14, which shows where the weight on KOSPI came from.
The contrast is sharper in individual stocks. Among gainers, ISU Specialty Chemical rose 17.21% on an estimated closing-price-based trading value of 90.9 billion won, the largest among the day's standout names, and Business Post and Job Post attributed the move to renewed expectations for commercial production at its lithium sulfide plant, a key material for solid-state batteries. Vinatech also gained 9.73%, with a projected second-half earnings improvement on higher supercapacitor volumes cited as the reason. Among decliners, Hanwha Life fell 8.58% on an estimated trading value of 30.6 billion won, though both JKN and Job Post described it as weakness in sentiment with no confirmed negative catalyst, and the day's biggest drop, Cosmecca Korea's 12.19% fall, had no identifiable cause beyond broad weakness in cosmetics.
Macro indicators generally pointed in a direction favorable to Korean equities. The won firmed 0.12% to 1,358.4 per US dollar, down 1.6 won from the previous day, easing pressure, and domestic yields fell clearly as well, with the 3-year Korean government bond at 4.011%, down 6.5bp, and the 10-year at 4.407%, down 6.9bp. US yields moved the other way on figures dated September 28 because of the publication lag, with the 10-year Treasury at 5.24%, up 7.0bp, and the 2-year at 4.92%, up 11.0bp, and that divergence may not be unrelated to the weakness in financials. In safe havens, gold rose 0.71% to $4,182.38 and silver 0.34% to $61.28, while the latest WTI reading is $96.41 as of September 22.
On market funds, investor deposits and margin lending were again missing from this data set, so the direction of domestic cash on the sidelines could not be checked. What is available is overseas-stock settlement as of September 29: buy settlement fell $40.3 million to $515.4 million while sell settlement rose $276.9 million to $798.1 million, leaving net settlement at $282.6 million on the sell side. Separately from foreign selling in Korea, money was flowing back in from overseas stocks, but this is a single day's reading and too early to treat as a trend.
Behind this was a mixed session in the US the previous day. The Seoul Shinmun reported that on September 29 the Dow fell 0.26% to 51,349.92, the S&P 500 0.17% to 7,670.84 and the Nasdaq Composite 0.09% to 26,797.54, while the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index closed 1.32% higher at 12,629.16, leaving chips as the one area of strength. In Korea, Newspim and Asia Economy reported that foreigners net sold 2.2747 trillion won and institutions 858.6 billion won while individuals bought 1.4544 trillion won, suggesting a market where large caps met supply while retail money moved into small and mid caps.
As for where the money went, the ranking by returns and the ranking by relative strength diverge. On relative strength the leading industry was semiconductors, with 7 stocks flagged as leaders and the OSAT and packaging segment strongest at 92.26 points, yet the biggest gains on the day belonged to hydrogen and EV batteries. Among ETFs, KODEX Solid-State Battery ESS TOP2 Plus rose 3.2% and SOL Solid-State Battery & Silicon Anode 3.16%, leaving a trace of money moving toward solid-state names. The stock leading on relative strength was 3billion Inc., in medical devices and diagnostics within bio, but it closed 2.87% lower at 6,440 won, a second straight day of consolidation after surging 23.27% on September 23 and 25.52% on September 28, so its score appears to rest on that earlier surge rather than the current move.
Separating what is confirmed from what is inferred: the index moves, gainer and decliner counts, industry averages, standout-stock moves, macro indicators and overseas-stock settlement are values this site collected or calculated itself, and the net buying and selling figures for foreigners, institutions and individuals are confirmed by press reports. By contrast, the expectation of commercial lithium sulfide production at ISU Specialty Chemical and the earnings outlook at Vinatech rest on media accounts, and the sharp falls at Hanwha Life and Cosmecca Korea have no confirmed negative catalyst, so their cause remains unclear. Whether financials falling across the board is tied to rising long-term US yields is also closer to circumstantial, and it may be worth watching another day.
Sources (Korean-language)
- [마감시황] 코스피, 외인 2.3조 순매도에 0.48%↓…코스닥은 0.72%↑ · 뉴스핌 · 2026-09-30
- 코스피, 32.77P 내린 6838.04 마감(0.48%↓) · 아시아경제 · 2026-09-30
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- 이수스페셜티케미컬 16.76% 급등…황화리튬 설비 기대 재부각 · 잡포스트 · 2026-09-30
- [급등주 핵심체크] 비나텍, 슈퍼캡 BE향 물량 증가로 실적 성장 전망…주가 날개? · 데일리인베스트 · 2026-09-30
- 한화생명, 특별한 악재 없이 8%대 급락 마감… 투자 심리 위축 · 재경일보 · 2026-09-30
- 한화생명 8.58% 급락, 저가 부근 마감…자본비율 점검 · 잡포스트 · 2026-09-30
- [서울데이터랩]미국 증시 혼조 마감…반도체 강세 속 다우·S&P500 약세 · 서울신문 · 2026-09-30
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.