Although the KOSPI broke its 8-session losing streak and rebounded today (the 16th), a sense of caution remains prevalent as to whether today's rise marks the beginning of a "true rebound."

According to the Korea Exchange, the KOSPI closed up 113.83 points, or 2.05%, from the previous session at 5,668.05, ending its 8-session slide.

The index started 1.8% higher and surged as much as 4.6% at one point in the afternoon, but failed to sustain its momentum and gave up a large portion of its gains.

In the main bourse, foreign investors recorded a net purchase of 343 billion won, turning to net buyers for the first time in 9 sessions.

Individuals and institutional investors posted net sales of 484.7 billion won and 683.8 billion won, respectively.

Given that the KOSPI plunged more than 20% over the past 7 sessions, many evaluations suggest that today's rebound was relatively weak.

Major Asian stock markets showed a similar atmosphere.

Japan's Nikkei 225 index closed up 1.39% at 65,324.29, while Taiwan's Weighted index finished up 0.3% at 47,111.26.

The rebounds failed to reach even half of the previous day's declines of 4.9% and 3.41%, respectively.

The KOSPI expanded its gains to the 4% range earlier in the day upon reports that U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh refrained from mentioning additional tightening during the session, but it surrendered its gains late in the day.

This is interpreted as the dominant assessment that it is difficult to forecast a solid upward trajectory for the KOSPI without confidence in the sustainability of the semiconductor cycle and stable buying by foreign investors confirming this.

Although foreign investors turned to net buyers on this day, the scale was evaluated as weak considering that they have net sold nearly 2 trillion won per day on average this month.

Individual investors also kept the possibility of further index declines open in the absence of stable supply-demand signals from foreign investors, which appears to have somewhat limited bargain-hunting demand.

(Photo: Yonhap News)