Clear Skies Beyond the Index · Index -1.79%, 642 stocks rose
2026.08.28
Snowshagal Report

Clear Skies Beyond the Index

TODAY'S LINE

Index -1.79%
642 stocks rose

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SNOWSHAGAL · DAILY
MARKET RESEARCH
2026.08.28 · FRI
KRX CLOSE 15:30
DAILY MARKET NOTE / 28 AUG 2026

A Top-Heavy Index Fell,
642 Stocks Rose

KOSPI -1.79% · down after three straight gainsSemiconductor tariff expansion review → Samsung Electronics and SK hynix lowerSamsung Biologics rights offering → additional pressure at the top of the market-cap stackAdvancers: 642 · doubled in a day

The index and market breadth reversed yesterday's roles today
MARKET PATH / 01

Morning Nearly Filled the Gap; Afternoon Deepened the Loss

How the session unfolded
KOSPI · 09:00—15:30Open 6,846.54 → morning high 6,901.78 → afternoon low 6,780.13 → close 6,788.88
09:00 12:00 15:30
OPEN6,846.54-0.95%
HIGH6,901.78-0.15%
LOW6,780.13-1.91%
CLOSE6,788.88-1.79%
THE READ

The morning rebound signaled this was not a broad risk-off sessionThe afternoon damage came from the top of the market-cap stack · closing program flow pointed the same wayYet the decline did not spread across the broader market, the exact opposite of yesterdayToday's -1.79% was less a broad-market selloff than a drop created by heavyweights at the top of the market-cap stack

OPEN · MORNING

One Hour to Nearly Refill the Opening Gap

6,846.54 Open 6,846.54 · 65.83pt below the prior close -65.83pAfter one more dip just after the open, the index rebounded to a high of 6,901.78 around 9:50 a.m.Most of the gap was filled, but the rebound stalled just below the prior close

AFTERNOON

Once the Rebound Ended, the Afternoon Moved One Way

Losses widened with no meaningful second rebound after the morning highThe index broke below 6,800 after 2 p.m.The low kept moving lower without another rebound attempt

CLOSE

A Close Slightly Off the Low

Low 6,780.13 just before 3 p.m.The index briefly regained 6,800 before 6,788.88 close · 8.75p off the lowOnly the index fell; decliners numbered just 238 — leaving the index and market breadth moving in opposite directions

An intraday direction line connecting the four confirmed points—open, low, high, and close—not a minute-by-minute chart.
WHY / 02

What Drove Today's Direction

Which events set the market's direction
01

Tariff Review Overshadowed Nvidia's Good News

The main driver of domestic semiconductor weakness was a report that the U.S. was considering broader semiconductor tariffsThe possible scope was said to include finished products containing chips, such as laptops and serversSamsung Electronics -3.38% · SK hynix -4.45% · Semiconductors & Semiconductor Equipment -3.74%

-3.74%Semiconductors & Semiconductor Equipment · 79th of 79 industries
View evidence
The overnight backdrop was actually positive · Nvidia in the Aug. 27 U.S. regular session +8.74% · +2.33%
Nvidia Q2 revenue $96.22bn · up 106% YoY · record high for a 13th straight quarter
Politico reported the review · the tariff plan is not final and could still be substantially revised
HBM theme -1.74% · 9 advancers, 25 decliners among 34 stocks
Leading semiconductor producers theme -3.14% · all 3 stocks declined
U.S. 10Y 4.672%(+0.8bp) · rate pressure was limited
Politico cited anonymous sources · Reuters could not independently verify the report, and the White House and Commerce Department did not immediately respond
The direct rate shock was limited · some closing commentary also cited concerns over hardware margins from rising memory prices and caution around U.S. Treasury yields
MONEY / 03

Foreign Selling Concentrated in SK hynix

Who traded the catalyst, and how
FOREIGN · KOSPI CASH
-KRW 1.756tn

Selling was concentrated in one stock, while buying was spread broadly TOP1 44% vs. top-1 buying concentration 21%KOSPI 200 futures were +KRW 614bn in the opposite direction from cash equities · too early to call it a reversal

SK hynix-KRW 1.2085tn
Samsung Electro-Mechanics+KRW 187.2bn
Futures · program trading · detailed flows
Foreign +KRW 614bn
Institutional K200 futures-KRW 760bn
KOSPI program trading-KRW 1.4955tn
-KRW 1.5403tn
KOSPI turnover KRW 19.94tn · 81% of the 5-day average and 72% of the 20-day average · despite a 1.79% index drop, trading itself was relatively light
Top-5 selling concentration 71% · top-5 buying concentration 38%
Foreign Samsung Electronics -KRW 503.8bn · reversed to selling after two days of net buying on Aug. 26–27 · institutions sold SK hynix -KRW 459bn· Samsung Electronics -KRW 427.3bn · retail investors bought SK hynix +KRW 566.8bn· Samsung Electronics +KRW 409.7bn
Non-arbitrage program trading reversed from +KRW 98.6bnthe previous day · opposite to arbitrage trading at +KRW 44.8bn· foreign futures buying shrank sharply from +KRW 1.587tn the previous day · cash and futures close at different times, so closing-price differences are excluded from comparison
Institutional net buying: Samsung Electro-Mechanics +KRW 97bn· Samsung SDI +KRW 89.6bn· Doosan Enerbility +KRW 71.6bn · retail net selling: Samsung Electro-Mechanics -KRW 281bn
SECTOR / 04

Where Strength and Weakness Sat

The day's distribution, not just rankings

With semiconductors lower, the leaders were spread across cosmetics, food, software, and non-life insurance.Electrical Equipment, yesterday's No. 1 industry, and the Wire & Cable theme both reversed lowerLeadership changed in a single day

STRONG

Cosmetics+6.33%
Food+3.30%
Software+2.93%
Non-life Insurance+1.88%

WEAK

Semiconductors & Semiconductor Equipment-3.74%
Electric Utilities-3.57%
Communications Equipment-2.93%
Pharmaceuticals-1.94%
Industry evidence
Of 79 industries: 65 up, 1 flat, 13 down (previous day: 34 up, 44 down) · of 220 themes: 169 up, 51 down (previous day: 123 up, 96 down across 219 themes) · Cosmetics: 47 up, 11 down among 65 stocks · Semiconductors & Semiconductor Equipment: 51 up, 114 down among 172 stocks · Banks and Non-life Insurance had zero decliners · Wire & Cable theme: 1 up, 6 down among 8 stocks (all 8 rose the previous day) · Internet & Catalog Retail, last the previous day at -4.37%, ranked first today at +7.40%, though it contains only 6 stocks · industry returns are market-cap-weighted indexes, not net inflow amounts
KOSDAQ closed at 838.41(+0.09%) · 957 advancers vs. 690 decliners, so the index and breadth moved in the same direction · weakness was concentrated at the top of KOSPI market cap
KOSPI breadth · 2 limit-up, 640 up, 32 flat, 238 down, 0 limit-down · the breadth numerator is advancers plus limit-up stocks; the denominator is all issues including unchanged stocks
CHANGE / 05

The Answer to Yesterday's Question

Today's result against yesterday's confirmation criteria
YESTERDAY → TODAY

Yesterday's big question: would gains at the top of the market-cap stack spread to the broader market? · Today's answer: noAs the top rolled over, the share of advancing stocks actually widened · for a second straight day, the index and the market beneath it moved in opposite directions

01
KOSPI return
+1.53%
→
-1.79%
02
KOSPI advancing-stock ratio
35.0%
→
70.4%
Previous-day detail check
The index failed to close above 6,996.12Foreign buying of Samsung Electronics did not extend to a third day and reversed to selling · selling of SK hynix expanded rather than easedAutomobiles, which retail investors had been buying, turned positive at +0.49% for the dayNvidia's first regular-session reaction was positive
CATALYST / 06

A Disclosure Outside Semiconductors That Weighed on the Index

The single event the market actually repriced today
Samsung Biologics · Aug. 28, 08:20 disclosure
-6.78%

Samsung Biologics Announces an Approximately KRW 3tn Rights Offering

WHAT · terms

Rights offering totaling KRW 3.0009tn · 2.27mn new sharesShareholder allocation followed by a public offering of unsubscribed shares · planned issue price KRW 1.322mnDisclosed capital-increase ratio 4.904%

USE · proceeds

Acquisition of the Polypeptide Group: KRW 2.7062tnExpansion of the second Bio Campus in Songdo, Incheon: KRW 294.8bn

SHAREHOLDER · shareholder impact (interpretation)

New-share issuance implies dilution and is viewed as a near-term share-price overhangHowever, the capital-increase ratio and value dilution are not the same concept, so 4.904% is not treated directly as the dilution rate

MARKET · market reaction

Close -6.78% · market cap KRW 68.8tnA separate drag at the top of the market-cap stack, independent of semiconductors

NEXT / 07

What to Check Next

Conditions that can actually be scored, rather than probabilities
Does the broader tariff review become formalized in a document?

If product scope and tariff rates move from reporting into formal documentation, the assumptions behind domestic semiconductor earnings estimates change · if the idea is revised or withdrawn, tariff-related losses become candidates for a rebound · score it via the Semiconductors & Semiconductor Equipment industry return

Does foreign net selling of SK hynix remain above KRW 1tn?

Aug. 26 -KRW 382.1bn → Aug. 27 -KRW 269bn → today above KRW 1tn · if selling remains above KRW 1tn next session, pressure at the top of the market-cap stack persists

Do the index and market breadth return to the same sign?

For two straight sessions, the index and the market beneath it have carried opposite signs · next session, consider them realigned if the index return and the 50% advancing-stock threshold point the same way

Outside the heavyweights that sank, 642 stocks moved the other way

Full index · FX · rates · commodities data are in MARKETThe Daily keeps only the figures needed to explain today's session.
MARKET ↗
Sources · data basis
As of the Aug. 28, 2026 close · index, breadth, investor totals: Naver Finance and KRX Data System / stock-level flows: KRX closing investor trading data, MDCSTAT024 / industries & themes: Naver Finance industry and theme quotes / program trading: KRX Data System / overseas data: Nasdaq Composite, Philadelphia Semiconductor Index, Nvidia close, U.S. 10Y Treasury yield, Aug. 27 U.S. regular-session close / company disclosure: Samsung Biologics rights offering decision at 08:20 / tariff review report: Politico, Aug. 27 local time; Reuters follow-up citing the report; not finalized / schedule: Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City Jackson Hole symposium official schedule, National Data Agency release calendar, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics release calendar, ISM 2026 release calendar, MSCI August review, NYSE holiday calendar