KOSPI falls below 7,000 as tech shares slide amid foreign selling of 1.75 trillion won

Decliners outnumbered gainers 459 to 424 ^[7], so about 52% of the stocks that moved went down ^[18]. The index still lost 62.35 points from a prior close of 7,003.74, and it had opened higher ^[1][13]. A loss that size on breadth that even has to come from the largest stocks. Tech stocks led the market down ^[2], and SK hynix fell about two and a half times as far as Samsung Electronics in percentage terms ^[19].

Foreign net selling came to about 9.2% of the session's 19.1 trillion won turnover ^[15]. Individual buying covered about 42% of it ^[16]. Institutional net selling was roughly 0.01% of turnover ^[21], so institutions sat the day out. The reported figures do not net to zero. Every share sold has a buyer, so about 1.01 trillion won of net buying ^[17] came from investors outside the three groups Yonhap listed.

Yonhap put the fall down to global bond yields at multidecade highs ^[2], pushed up by higher interest rates, elevated energy costs and renewed inflation worries ^[8]. Korea's own bond market rallied ^[14]. The three-year government bond yield fell 0.4 basis point, and the five-year fell 1.2 basis points to 4.117% ^[14]. The currency also moved against the sellers: the won edged up to 1,343.6 per dollar from 1,344 ^[12], a gain of about 0.03% ^[20].

The Yonhap reports do not break foreign selling down by stock. Linking foreign sellers to chipmakers in particular is an inference from which shares fell ^[3][5].

I think the evidence supports a narrower claim. Global yields are weighing on the chipmakers that led the decline. Elsewhere, company news still set prices the same afternoon: Samsung SDI rose 8.7% ^[11], and LG Electronics gained on its data-center chiller contract ^[10].

Yonhap reported that investors were expected to stay cautious until a fresh policy catalyst or strong corporate earnings arrived ^[9]. If foreigners keep selling while chipmakers post strong third-quarter results, rates are setting the price ^[8]. Weak chip results would mean the yield story was covering for a company problem. One light session can also simply reverse. A quicker test comes before earnings. If SK hynix and Samsung Electronics keep falling on days when global yields retreat, the rate explanation is wrong ^[5].