This week in review
A window on where the market moved over the week
KOSPI posts weekly gain of +11.49%, closing Friday at 6,977.94
Foreigners Buy, Korea Rallies — KOSPI Surges +11.49% in Five Sessions
The week opened quietly — Monday and Tuesday each added less than 1% — before semiconductors ignited a two-day surge of +3.68% Wednesday and +3.56% Thursday, driven by heavy foreign net buying on both days.Friday’s session added a further +2.42%, led by autos and telecoms, carrying the KOSPI to 6,977.94 at the close.The week’s +11.49% gain ranked 2nd out of 32 weeks tracked in the 2026 regime; the intraweek high-low swing of 12.83% ranked 8th out of 33 weeks.
The week in numbers
A window measuring the week’s change, its range and where it sits within the year
KOSPI closes the week at 6,977.94, up +11.49%; KOSDAQ at 864.65, up +8.24%
| Item | KOSPI | KOSDAQ | Rank this year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Weekly change | +11.49% | +8.24% | KOSPI: rank 2 of 32 weeks |
| Weekly high–low range | +12.83% | +8.87% | KOSPI: rank 8 of 33 weeks |
| Friday close | 6,977.94 | 864.65 | — |
Weekly flows — who bought and who sold
A window on how much foreign investors, retail investors, investment firms and pension funds each bought and sold over the week
Foreigners net bought ₩6,546.9bn for the week; retail investors net sold ₩7,084.6bn
| Day | KOSPI | Foreign investors | Retail investors | Investment firms | Pension funds |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mon (08.10) | +0.65% | −₩1.49tn | +₩900.3bn | +₩581.6bn | −₩144.9bn |
| Tue (08.11) | +0.73% | +₩53.5bn | −₩70.8bn | +₩62.8bn | −₩42.6bn |
| Wed (08.12) | +3.68% | +₩2.84tn | −₩3.19tn | +₩523.1bn | −₩28.1bn |
| Thu (08.13) | +3.56% | +₩2.11tn | −₩2.74tn | +₩508.2bn | −₩64.1bn |
| Fri (08.14) | +2.42% | +₩3.04tn | −₩1.98tn | −₩1.06tn | +₩39.1bn |
| Weekly total | +11.49% | +₩6.55tn | −₩7.08tn | +₩617.0bn | −₩240.6bn |
Foreign investors were net buyers every day of the week, accelerating from a net sale of ₩1,490.9bn on Monday to net purchases of ₩2,835.4bn Wednesday, ₩2,110.2bn Thursday, and ₩3,038.7bn Friday, for a weekly total of ₩6,546.9bn.Retail investors absorbed the other side, net selling ₩7,084.6bn over the five sessions — their heaviest offloading concentrated on Wednesday (₩3,191.1bn) and Thursday (₩2,741.0bn).Institutional investors were modest net buyers at ₩617.0bn for the week, though they turned net sellers on Friday (₩1,058.7bn); the National Pension Service was a net seller of ₩240.6bn on the week.
What each group bought and sold
A window on the stock each group bought most and sold most that week
Foreigners concentrated buys in Samsung Electronics (₩3,936.8bn); retail bought Jeju Semiconductor, sold Samsung Electronics
| Investor group | Bought most | Sold most |
|---|---|---|
| Foreign investors | Samsung Electronics+₩3.94tn | Samsung Electro-Mechanics−₩152.6bn |
| Retail investors | Jeju Semiconductor+₩81.0bn | Samsung Electronics−₩3.39tn |
| Investment firms | Samsung SDI+₩43.3bn | SK hynix−₩296.8bn |
| Pension funds | SK hynix+₩103.9bn | Samsung Electronics−₩103.1bn |
Samsung Electronics was the clearest point of divergence: foreigners were the week’s largest net buyers at ₩3,936.8bn, retail investors were the largest net sellers at ₩3,385.1bn, and the National Pension Service also net sold ₩103.1bn of the same name.Meanwhile, institutional investors net sold SK hynix (₩296.8bn) while the National Pension Service net bought it (₩103.9bn), adding another cross-actor split on a single name; the universe covered is 70 stocks.
The week’s events
A window on what moved the market over the week and what followed, in order
Semiconductor capex confirmation and domestic AI policy dominated the week’s headline flow
| Day | Layer | Event | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mon | Industry | Semiconductor equipment stocks surge on confirmed SK hynix investment scale | KOSPI +0.65% |
| Mon | Industry | Intel raises equity capital for AI investment — first public offering since listing, targeting ₩21tn | KOSPI +0.65% |
| Mon | Industry | Presidential office announces Chungcheong-region ₩246tn and Yeongnam-region ₩107tn investment projects to begin this year | KOSPI +0.65% |
| Mon | Policy | Government to significantly expand physical-AI procurement to grow robotics ecosystem | KOSPI +0.65% |
| Mon | Policy | POSCO files rebuttal with Japanese government over anti-dumping duty on galvanized steel sheet | KOSPI +0.65% |
| Mon | Industry | 90% of SNU Engineering broad-track entrants choose electrical and information engineering — semiconductor and AI influence cited | KOSPI +0.65% |
| Mon | Industry | Korea East-West Power and ROAS sign cooperation agreement for robot-based AI technology development and demonstration | KOSPI +0.65% |
| Mon | Policy | Presidential office announces mega-special-zone legislation to be enacted this year; inter-ministerial council to be set under PM | KOSPI +0.65% |
| Tue | Industry | Semiconductor export surge cited as earnings momentum — Samsung Electronics +4%, SK hynix +0.35% | KOSPI +0.73% |
| Tue | Industry | NAVER D2SF makes follow-on investment in physical-AI start-up N.Light | KOSPI +0.73% |
Wall Street scoreboard — weekly summary
A window grading, cumulatively, whether the stance of US investment bank reports matched reality three days later
Wall Street Scoreboard: 14 hits in 26 calls since tracking began (54%); no new verdicts this week
The scoreboard tracks buy- and sell-side calls on Korean equities, scoring each against the stock’s three-day return after publication; the current cumulative record stands at 14 hits out of 26 graded calls (54%), with no new calls added or graded this week.Among the five calls shown in the grading panel, directional accuracy has been mixed: a Bernstein upgrade on Samsung Electronics scored +1.41% three days later, while a Barclays target raise on SK hynix (upside cited: 117%) was followed by a -19.23% three-day return — the scoreboard logs both.
| Institutions | Report | Actual | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bernstein (06.22) | Samsung Electronics—Bernstein raises targets for Samsung, SK Hynix, Micron…”Rising memory prices ease AI cost pressures” (Positive) | +1.41% | ✓ |
| Nomura (06.24) | Samsung Electronics—Nomura “590K→670K”…Samsung target raised again (Positive) | −5.14% | ✗ |
| JPMorgan (06.25) | KOSPI—JPMorgan raises 12-month target to 12,500…”Maximize Korean equity weight” (Positive) | −5.08% | ✗ |
| Morgan Stanley (07.13) | SK Hynix—Semiconductor overbought warning (memory winter precedent) (Negative) | −0.16% | ✓ |
| Barclays (07.23) | SK Hynix—Target price $330 (117% upside) (Positive) | −19.23% | ✗ |
The week’s lesson
A window for what to carry past the end of the week
Five sessions, four takeaways — what this week’s data record
The week’s data capture a sharp rally driven by concentrated foreign buying, a clean retail-vs-foreigner split on the market’s largest stock, and a Wall Street scoreboard that continues to track both its hits and its misses.The judgment is each reader’s own.