The KOSPI plunged more than 2% in early trading on the 26th. With the U.S. New York stock market closing mixed overnight, profit-taking sell-offs following the recent surge poured into the domestic market, dampening investor sentiment.

As of 9:07 a.m. on the 26th, the KOSPI stood at 8,734.11, down 196.19 points (2.20%) from the previous trading day. The index widened its losses immediately after the opening, falling to the 8,700 level.

Overnight, U.S. stock markets closed mixed as some large-cap tech stocks, including Apple, showed weakness despite Micron posting earnings that exceeded market expectations. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq indices fell, reflecting mixed global investor sentiment.

Along with the mixed performance in U.S. markets, profit-taking sentiment strengthened in the domestic market following two consecutive days of sharp gains. This led to continued selling by both foreigners and institutions. Foreigners net sold more than 1 trillion won, driving the index lower, while retail investors absorbed the sell-off by net purchasing over 900 billion won. Program trading was also sell-dominated. The net selling volume of program trades, combining arbitrage and non-arbitrage transactions, was tallied at 851.6 billion won, adding pressure to the index decline.

The market analyzes that the profit-taking sell-off expanded as caution stemming from the mixed U.S. market overlapped with the burden of the domestic market's sharp short-term gains. However, expectations for expanded AI investment and improvement in the semiconductor industry cycle remain intact, making the future direction of U.S. markets and changes in foreign supply and demand the key variables that will determine the KOSPI's short-term direction.

[This article was written with the assistance of AI. This article is not intended to solicit investment, and any losses resulting from investments are the responsibility of the investor.]