Why Is the KOSDAQ Surging While the KOSPI Struggles?

[Anchor]

The KOSDAQ market, which had been suffering from an extreme slump, is continuing its steep upward trend. This month, a buy sidecar was triggered on half of the trading days, and while the index has surged 35% compared to its low point last month, it has barely recovered 70% of this year's high.

Reporter Min Gyeongho has the details.

[Reporter]

Starting 1% higher, the KOSDAQ extended its gains throughout the session.

Even after a buy sidecar was triggered around 9:50 AM, the upward trend continued, eventually closing up nearly 7% at 854.

A strong rebound is underway, with the index rising on 5 out of the 6 trading days this month, and buy sidecars being triggered on 3 of those days.

Compared to this year's lowest intraday point of 630 recorded on the 29th of last month, it has sharply risen by about 35% in just 8 trading days.

Analysts suggest that a significant portion of investment funds flowed into the KOSDAQ after the daily trading value of single-stock leverage products plunged by around 10 trillion won following the KOSPI single-stock leverage regulations on the 31st of last month.

In fact, KOSDAQ trading value, which stood in the 4 trillion-won range just before the regulations, has increased to the 7 trillion-won range.

In particular, yesterday (the 10th), Alteogen, the top biotech company by market capitalization on the KOSDAQ, surged 14% to lead the index's rise.

Investment rushed in after BlackRock, the world's largest asset manager, disclosed that it holds a 5% stake in Alteogen.

However, the prevailing interpretation is that rather than the KOSDAQ entering a major bullish phase, this is a reaction to how sharply it had previously fallen.

Currently, while the KOSPI is about 33% lower than its peak recorded last June, the KOSDAQ has barely recovered 70% of this year's high despite its recent surge.

[Interview / Lee Jin-woo / Head of Research Center, Meritz Securities: Since the KOSDAQ is filled with high-risk, high-return stocks, it is necessary to compress investments and focus on companies backed by fundamentals and solid earnings.]

The KOSPI closed up 0.65% at 6,299.

Although the number of advancing stocks exceeded 75% of the total, semiconductor shares struggled, with Samsung Electronics falling 0.43% and SK Hynix dropping 0.14%.

(Photo: Yonhap News)

Reported by Lee Moo-jin | Video by Choi Hye-ran

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