Retail, Foreign and Institutional Investors All Sell, Capping KOSPI

* Editor's note: AI PRISM (Personalized Report & Insight Summarizing Media) is an artificial intelligence-based personalized news recommendation and summary service developed with support from the Korea Press Foundation. It selects and provides six news items tailored to each reader type.

1. Not Foreigners, Not Institutions, Not Retail — Nobody Is Buying the KOSPI

- Key summary: Through the 4th of this month, retail investors, foreign investors and institutions net sold 2.915 trillion won, 1.8705 trillion won and 81.3 billion won worth of KOSPI shares, respectively, with all three groups selling at once. Over the same period, the KOSPI fell 1.95% and moved sideways between 6,500 and 6,900, while other corporations alone net bought 4.8895 trillion won, absorbing the supply. Retail investors moved to avoid losses and sell at break-even, pension funds and mutual aid associations have already exceeded their allocation limits for domestic stocks and have no room left, and foreign investors were seen combining profit-taking with risk aversion. Kang Jin-hyuk, a researcher at Shinhan Securities, said share buybacks are not an upside driver for the index and that a shift to foreign buying, driven by stable oil prices and interest rates and confirmation of improving industry conditions, is needed.

2. Preliminary Q2 Korean Growth Figure Due; U.S. August Consumer Prices in Focus

- Key summary: The Bank of Korea releases its preliminary second-quarter real GDP growth figure on the 8th. The advance estimate at the end of July came in at 0.6% from the previous quarter, far above the central bank's 0.2% forecast, and Bank of Korea Governor Shin Hyun-song has said he expects nominal GDP growth for the second quarter to come in considerably high. The National Data Office releases August employment data on the 9th. In July, the number of employed young people fell by 191,000 from a year earlier, extending a decline that has now run for 45 months, and the youth unemployment rate posted its largest increase in five years and six months. Meanwhile, the U.S. August CPI due on the 11th is expected to show a 3.4% rise from a year earlier, and the prevailing view is that the ECB will raise rates again on the 10th, citing eurozone August inflation of 3.3%.

3. The 6,500-7,000 Range Is the Floor — Buy in Installments

- Key summary: Lim Tae-hyuk, executive director of the ETF management division at Samsung Asset Management, said that barring a global shock, the 6,500-7,000 range will act as support for the KOSPI and that the index will climb to 10,000 in the second half. He explained that on Bloomberg's compilation of 12-month forward PER, the United States and Taiwan stand at about 20 times, Japan at 16 times, China at 11 times and emerging markets at 10 times, while South Korea is below five times. Lim said KOSPI companies excluding Samsung Electronics and SK hynix are also expected to earn about 50% more this year than last, stressing that even if next year's growth rate slows somewhat, the direction of earnings growth itself has not changed. He also recommended accumulating positions gradually, centered on benchmark index exchange-traded funds (ETFs) such as those tracking the KOSPI 200, rather than specific sectors.

4. The Korea-U.S. Chip Fight in Three Years Will Be Bigger Than Tariff Pressure

- Key summary: In the second half of 2029, when SK hynix's back-end packaging fab in Indiana goes into full operation, a structure will take shape in which Korean and U.S. companies compete on American soil to supply the latest high-bandwidth memory (HBM). As Micron reorganizes its most advanced memory facilities, previously concentrated in Taiwan, Singapore and Japan, around the United States, Samsung Electronics will start operating its first Taylor foundry plant, which will produce Tesla's AI5 chip, within this year. Behind the U.S. drive to bring in Korean companies is an intent to produce the most advanced chips at home amid the U.S.-China contest for artificial intelligence (AI) supremacy. The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump last year invested $8.9 billion (12.0106 trillion won) to take a 9.9% stake in Intel and has been pressing for Nvidia and Apple chips to be manufactured at Intel.

5. Hyundai Steel Moves Beyond Sheet Steel to AI Data Centers, Targeting U.S. Power Infrastructure Market

- Key summary: Hyundai Steel is pursuing new orders not only for high-value automotive steel sheet but also for AI data centers, chip plants and power grids, led by its Hyundai Steel Louisiana electric arc furnace mill (HPLS). Hyundai Steel set up a next-generation power infrastructure task force in March and has won orders for more than 30,000 tons of steel from seven new data centers so far this year, with a goal of raising sales volume across its three power infrastructure segments from about 90,000 tons this year to 400,000 tons by 2030. McKinsey & Company projected that U.S. capital spending on AI data centers will grow at an average annual rate of 22%, from $120 billion in 2024 to about $400 billion in 2030. In addition, despite a 50% U.S. tariff, rebar exports to the United States in the first half of this year reached 484,000 tons, more than a 33-fold surge from 14,557 tons a year earlier.

6. SpaceX, Korean Retail Investors' Top Pick This Year, Nears Its Listing Price — Can It Clear the Lockup Expiry?

- Key summary: SpaceX shares closed at $147.95 on the 4th local time, putting the $150 mark from its first day of trading and a $2 trillion market capitalization within reach again. Even though 27% of the 4.6 billion locked-up shares held by employees and early investors were released last month, the stock rebounded, prompting an "overhang paradox" argument that a larger free float draws passive money tracking the Nasdaq 100. Oppenheimer, Bernstein and JPMorgan raised their price targets to $280, $248 and $240, respectively, while seven firms including Morningstar and UBS maintained sell or neutral ratings. According to Korea Securities Depository data, holdings stood at $2.41324 billion as of the 3rd, ranking 19th overall, and net purchases over the past month totaled $315.83 million, the largest of any stock. However, because the won-dollar exchange rate was at its peak at the time of the listing, many investors are likely sitting on losses in won terms.