08/18 Korea Market Morning Briefing — Wall Street Falls on US-Iran Tensions… KOSPI Settles Above 6,900 on Foreign Buying

Wall Street Closed Lower Across Major Indices
On local time 17th, the three major US stock indices closed lower across the board due to rising international oil prices amid escalating tensions between the US and Iran. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.51%, and the S&P 500 index decreased by 0.52%.

US Index Futures Soften Further (As of Aug 18, 2026)
Weakness persisted in the US futures market, with ES=F recording -0.52% (7,764.5), NQ=F at -0.25% (30,067.5), and YM=F at -0.54% (53,514.0).

KOSPI: 6,977.94 (As of Aug 14)
Reviewing KOSPI closing prices over the past 20 sessions (Source: KRX), the index started at 6,516.27 on July 20, underwent a correction down to 5,593.56 on July 30, and subsequently staged a powerful rebound to reach 6,977.94 on August 14.

KOSDAQ: 864.65 (As of Aug 14)
The KOSDAQ index also rebounded steadily after recording a short-term low of 644.78 on July 30, closing at 864.65 on August 14. With KOSDAQ posting the world's highest return in August, returns across KOSDAQ active ETFs have also rebounded substantially.

Foreign Investors Pivot to Massive Net Buying in KOSPI (Source: KRX)
According to investor net flow trends in KOSPI (10 sessions, 100M KRW basis, Source: KRX), foreign investors who engaged in heavy selling early in August shifted aggressively to net buying toward mid-month. In particular, on August 14, foreign investors net bought 30,387.11 hundred million KRW (approx. 3,038.71B KRW), while retail investors net sold 19,820.30 hundred million KRW (institutions net sold 10,298.23 hundred million KRW).

KOSDAQ Trading Flows (As of Aug 14)
On the same day (August 14) in the KOSDAQ market, retail investors net purchased 314,485,787,967 KRW, while foreign investors net sold 67,365,704,159 KRW.