Stock market notes for Oct 21, 2026 (Wed)

KOSPI, the main index of the Korean stock market, closed at 5,735.66 on October 21, up 182.92 points or 3.29%. KOSDAQ, the index of smaller Korean companies, closed at 792.76, up 10.79 points or 1.38%. Both moved the same way, but the larger index gained more than twice as much in percentage terms.

Korean media reported that semiconductor shares led the advance as concerns over AI spending eased, and that a sidecar halt on program orders was triggered on the way up. A sidecar pauses program order entry when index futures move sharply, and on this day it was triggered by a jump rather than a drop.

Among the 200 Korean stocks, 115 rose, 78 fell and 7 were unchanged. The index gained over three percent, and still 78 names ended lower.

The fear and greed score was 52 for Korea, inside the neutral band, and 67 for overseas names, inside the greed band. Korea had the larger index move and the lower score, because gainers and decliners were both numerous. The won firmed at the same time: USD/KRW fell 6.35 won, or 0.48%, to 1,323.65, which means fewer won were needed for one dollar.

SK closed at 482,000 won, up 12.62%, the largest gain among Korean names. TAIHAN Fiberoptics rose 12.24% to 14,310 won and Doosan Tesna rose 9.57% to 112,200 won. Korean media tied SK to a special-zone bill that would open a path for a semiconductor joint venture. Doosan Tesna tests semiconductor chips and TAIHAN Fiberoptics makes optical fiber.

At the other end, Seojin System fell 10.88% to 34,000 won, LIG Defense & Aerospace fell 9.03% to 498,500 won and Hanwha Life Insurance fell 6.80% to 4,315 won. Defense names led the decliners a day earlier as well.

US index figures come from the October 20 close, the latest completed session. The Nasdaq slipped 6.07 points or 0.02% to 26,424.82, the S&P 500 added 21.84 points or 0.28% to 7,712.57 and the Dow added 529.85 points or 1.02% to 52,495.88. Among the 199 overseas stocks, 154 rose and 45 fell, the mirror image of the Korean shape.

3M led the gainers with 5.78% to 171.37 dollars, followed by Gartner at 5.74% to 219.64 dollars and Bristol-Myers Squibb at 4.84% to 61.68 dollars. Lam Research, which makes semiconductor equipment, fell 3.21% to 263.45 dollars, with GE Aerospace down 3.67% and Quanta Services down 3.62%. Korean semiconductor names carried their index higher on October 21, while the equipment maker had been among the decliners in the latest US session.

All six coins rose. Cardano gained 3.61%, XRP 3.38%, Ethereum 2.64%, BNB 2.20%, Solana 2.09% and Bitcoin 1.85%. Bitcoin stood at 109,955,646 won. Over seven days only BNB is positive, at 0.59%, while Cardano is down 4.16%.

All five commodities fell. WTI crude lost 3.23% to 98.5 dollars a barrel, natural gas 0.78%, silver 0.48%, copper 0.25% and gold 0.08%. Gold sits at 4,139.3 dollars an ounce, far below its 52-week high of 5,586.2 dollars. Stocks and coins rose on the day while gold and the rest of the commodity board eased. The reason crude fell that much was not in the day's headlines.