The KOSPI rose 11.49% last week, from 6,258.77 to 6,977.94. That is 719.17 points. But 632 of those points — 87.94% — came on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. Monday and Tuesday together produced 86.76 points, or 12% of the week.
The KOSDAQ — Korea’s secondary board, weighted toward smaller, growth-side names rather than the large manufacturers that dominate the KOSPI — rose 8.24% over the same five sessions. It moved on the opposite days. 84.54% of its weekly gain came on Monday alone, and the remaining four days added 10.18 points between them.
Both indexes went up in the same week, in the same direction. They did not go up on the same days.
What this means if you hold EWY or a global ETF
If you held EWY in a US account, what you received was not 11.49%. It was +8.22% ($166.09 on Aug 7 to $179.74 on Aug 14, NYSE Arca close, USD). The won strengthened 0.39% over the same span, so the currency moved in EWY’s favor and it still lagged. The reason is simple: EWY does not track the KOSPI. It tracks an MSCI Korea 25/50 index, with different constituents and different weights. Meanwhile SKHY, the SK Hynix ADR on Nasdaq, rose 20.61% in dollars, against +15.68% for the Seoul-listed shares measured in won — two different currencies, so read them side by side rather than as a subtraction.
1. The scoreboard
The starting point is the close on Friday, August 7; the end point is the close on Friday, August 14. August 15 fell on a Saturday this year, and is also Liberation Day, a Korean public holiday. Either way the week’s final print was set on Friday the 14th.
| Instrument | Aug 7 close | Aug 14 close | Week | Basis |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| KOSPI | 6,258.77 | 6,977.94 | +11.49% | KRX regular session, 15:30 Seoul |
| KOSDAQ | 798.81 | 864.65 | +8.24% | KRX regular session, 15:30 Seoul |
| Samsung Electronics (005930) | ₩231,000 | ₩274,500 | +18.83% | KRX regular session, 15:30 Seoul |
| SK Hynix (000660) | ₩1,422,000 | ₩1,645,000 | +15.68% | KRX regular session, 15:30 Seoul |
| KEPCO — Korea Electric Power (015760) | ₩35,600 | ₩33,250 | −6.60% | KRX regular session, 15:30 Seoul |
| EWY (NYSE Arca) | $166.09 | $179.74 | +8.22% | US trading day close |
| SKHY (Nasdaq) | $137.91 | $166.33 | +20.61% | US trading day close |
| USD/KRW | 1,423.8 | 1,418.3 | −0.39% (won stronger) | 15:30 Seoul close |
Sourcing. The indexes, the individual Korean shares and the US-listed instruments were pulled from a market-data feed rather than copied out of press reports. Each series carries the currency, exchange and time-zone tags of the Korea Exchange regular session, which is how we confirmed we were reading Seoul closes and not an aggregate. To be precise about what that establishes: it is vendor-tagged exchange data, not a figure taken from the exchange’s own publication. Aggregates that blend in Korea’s alternative venue, Nextrade, were excluded. The exchange rate is a further step removed — it reached us through Korean media reporting of the 15:30 Seoul close, which makes it press-reported, not confirmed from a primary source.
2. Open the week by day and it is two different weeks
KOSPI
| Date | Day | Close | Change | Points added |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 10 | Mon | 6,299.66 | +0.65% | +40.89 |
| Aug 11 | Tue | 6,345.53 | +0.73% | +45.87 |
| Aug 12 | Wed | 6,579.04 | +3.68% | +233.51 |
| Aug 13 | Thu | 6,813.34 | +3.56% | +234.30 |
| Aug 14 | Fri | 6,977.94 | +2.42% | +164.60 |
The first two days added 1.39%. The last three added 9.97%.
KOSDAQ
| Date | Day | Close | Change | Points added |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 10 | Mon | 854.47 | +6.97% | +55.66 |
| Aug 11 | Tue | 857.84 | +0.39% | +3.37 |
| Aug 12 | Wed | 858.91 | +0.12% | +1.07 |
| Aug 13 | Thu | 861.37 | +0.29% | +2.46 |
| Aug 14 | Fri | 864.65 | +0.38% | +3.28 |
Monday did +6.97%. The remaining four days added 1.19% combined.
Mr.Gat. Reduce a week to one number and you erase when that number was made. The answer usually lives in what got erased. Someone who read the KOSPI headline on Monday morning and someone who read it on Thursday morning saw the same +11.49% and were looking at two completely different markets.
What happened on Monday, August 10. A buy-side sidecar was triggered on the KOSDAQ that day — a mechanism that halts program buy orders for five minutes. Note the direction: a buy-side sidecar fires on a sharp move up, not a crash. Unlike the US LULD regime it does not apply to a single stock; it applies to program trading as a whole. On the same day the KOSPI managed only +0.65%, and Samsung Electronics (−0.43%) and SK Hynix (−0.14%) actually fell.
We stop there. We are not writing that the sidecar caused the KOSDAQ move. It is a fact that occurred on the same day, and our data cannot separate cause from coincidence. The sidecar trigger itself we could not match against a KRX primary disclosure — it is press-reported, not confirmed from a primary source.
Mr.Gat. “Both indexes went up” is a true sentence. The impression that they went up together is false. The KOSDAQ finished its work on Monday. The KOSPI had not started.
The previous week (Aug 3–7) split by direction: KOSPI −5.10%, KOSDAQ +10.98%. Put that scoreboard next to this one and you get two consecutive weeks in which the singular noun “the Korean market” did not work — first the direction split, then the timing did.
3. The single names moved further, and with the same timing bias
| Stock | Aug 10 | Aug 11 | Aug 12 | Aug 13 | Aug 14 | Week |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Samsung Electronics | −0.43% | +4.13% | +6.68% | +4.89% | +2.43% | +18.83% |
| SK Hynix | −0.14% | +0.35% | +5.54% | +5.92% | +3.26% | +15.68% |
| KEPCO | +0.28% | −1.40% | +0.71% | −6.63% | +0.45% | −6.60% |
Both semiconductor names fell on Monday. Their entire weekly gain was built from Tuesday onward, concentrated in Wednesday and Thursday.
KEPCO went the other way alone. Its Q2 preliminary results, filed after the close on August 12, showed consolidated operating profit of ₩1,128.5 billion (about $800 million), down 47.2% year on year, and the shares fell 6.63% the next day — on a day the broad index rose 3.56%. The full autopsy is in a separate piece. We read the original at DART, Korea’s electronic disclosure system. The figure is company-reported and preliminary, before external auditor review.
4. What this says about the Korean market: why EWY is not the KOSPI
This is the real story of the week.
EWY, the most common route a US account uses to own Korea, rose +8.22% in USD. The KOSPI rose +11.49% in won. That is a gap of 3.27 percentage points.
The usual explanation is currency. It does not work here. The won strengthened 0.39% against the dollar over the same span. A stronger won should push the dollar-denominated return up. The currency was on EWY’s side and EWY still trailed.
The next explanation is “different index,” and that is only half right. The holdings work we published last week — from the official iShares holdings file, dated August 13, 2026 — puts Samsung Electronics at 22.82% and SK Hynix at 20.03%, so the top two are 42.85% of the fund. And those two rose +18.83% and +15.68% last week, both well ahead of the index.
Multiply weight by return and those two names alone produce roughly +7.44 percentage points. Strip out the currency effect and the fund did something on the order of +7.8%. Which implies the other 57% of the portfolio contributed close to nothing.
We are not going to conclude from that. The calculation has three holes: the weights are dated August 13 while the return window runs August 7 to 14; EWY’s market price is set in US hours and includes trading that happened after each Seoul close; and we did not source the individual returns of the remaining seventy-odd holdings. So this is an observation, not a confirmed finding.
But the observation stands on its own: the two largest positions in the fund beat the index, and the fund lost to the index. If a US account thought it was buying “Korean semiconductors,” more than half of what it actually bought was something else.
Mr.Gat. When an English headline says “Korea up 11%,” that sentence is missing four things: which index, which day, which currency, which exchange’s close. This week all four answers were different. What you missed was not the rally, it was the weekday. And what you bought was not the KOSPI, it was EWY. That is not bad news. It is a statement you should read.
5. What 11% recovered, and what it did not
An 11.49% week is a large number. It matters where it started from.
Across the last twelve months of ^KS11 closing data (244 sessions), the highest close was 9,114.55, on June 22, 2026. Friday’s 6,977.94 is 23.44% below that. Getting back to the June high from here requires +30.62%.
On the ranking, we state the range rather than the superlative. Among one-week Friday-to-Friday windows in the past twelve months, this week (+11.491%) is the largest, with the week ended June 19 (+11.433%) just behind. That is a fact inside a stated boundary — twelve months, single-week Friday-to-Friday, closing data. Multi-week windows that span a Korean holiday are excluded because they are not comparable. We did not verify the prior record across the full Korea Exchange history, so we are not using “record” or “all-time.”
One more. On August 14 the KOSPI touched 7,010.86 intraday. It closed at 6,977.94. “KOSPI breaks 7,000” is an intraday fact, not a closing fact. We keep the books on closes.
Separately, what Korea’s policymakers said during this 11% week is covered in yesterday’s piece. Saturday is the words, Sunday is the numbers. This scoreboard is the other half of that pair.
6. What to watch next week
- Aug 27, Bank of Korea Monetary Policy Board — the first scheduled monetary policy meeting since this rally
- Aug 31, Japan’s Ministry of Finance monthly FX intervention disclosure — the first ledger since the joint US-Japan intervention was confirmed in early August
- Does the KOSDAQ follow through — whether a gain built almost entirely in one Monday extends or was a one-day event gets settled Tuesday through Friday, because Monday itself is a holiday (see below)
- Does volume hold up with the index above 6,977 — the line between a recovery rally and a trend change
7. One more thing: there is no Seoul close tomorrow
The Korean market is closed on Monday, August 17. Liberation Day falls on August 15, which was a Saturday this year, so Monday becomes a substitute holiday. Korea rolls a public holiday to the next weekday when it lands on a weekend — there is no US equivalent.
So the next Seoul close prints at 15:30 Korea time on Tuesday, August 18, which is 2:30 a.m. US Eastern on Tuesday, August 18 — overnight Monday, for anyone watching from the States.
EWY will trade normally in New York throughout. But the Korean prices underneath it stop updating at Friday’s Seoul close. The fund keeps trading; the assets behind it go stale. If EWY moves on Monday, that is not new information arriving from Korea. It is New York pricing Korean assets on its own, using a world that Seoul has not seen yet. When Korea opens on Tuesday morning, it either agrees with that verdict or it does not.
The short version
Korean equities closed last week at +11.49% on the KOSPI and +8.24% on the KOSDAQ. 88% of the KOSPI’s gain came in three sessions (Wednesday to Friday); 85% of the KOSDAQ’s came on Monday alone. Semiconductors carried the index — Samsung +18.83%, SK Hynix +15.68% — while KEPCO, hit by a sharp earnings drop, went the other way at −6.60%. A US account holding EWY received +8.22%, trailing the index by 3.27 percentage points despite a currency tailwind. And the KOSPI remains 23.44% below its June 22 high.
And one practical note before the week starts: Seoul is closed on Monday, August 17 for the Liberation Day substitute holiday. The next Korean close is Tuesday.
If you want the one useful thing to do with all of this: open your own fund’s holdings page and look at the top five lines. That is what you actually own.
“The Korean market rose 11%” is a true sentence. Very few people can use it to explain their own account.
FAQ
How much did the Korean stock market rise last week?
The KOSPI rose from 6,258.77 on August 7 to 6,977.94 on August 14, or +11.49%. The KOSDAQ rose from 798.81 to 864.65, or +8.24%. Both are Korea Exchange regular-session closes at 15:30 Seoul time.
How much did EWY rise last week?
From $166.09 on August 7 to $179.74 on August 14, or +8.22% (NYSE Arca close, US trading days). That is 3.27 percentage points below the KOSPI’s gain.
Why doesn’t EWY match the KOSPI?
EWY does not track the KOSPI. It tracks an MSCI Korea 25/50 index with different constituents and weights. EWY is also priced in dollars and trades in US hours, so it reflects moves that happen after each Seoul close.
Did the KOSPI break 7,000?
It reached 7,010.86 intraday on August 14, but closed at 6,977.94, below 7,000. On a closing basis it did not break through.
Why was there no trading on August 15?
August 15 fell on a Saturday in 2026, and it is also Liberation Day, a Korean public holiday. The week’s last trading day was Friday, August 14.
Is the Korean market open on Monday, August 17?
No. Because Liberation Day (August 15) fell on a Saturday, Monday August 17 is a substitute holiday. The next Seoul close prints on Tuesday, August 18 at 15:30 Korea time — 2:30 a.m. US Eastern on Tuesday, August 18 (overnight Monday). EWY keeps trading in New York in the meantime, on a net asset value frozen at Friday’s Seoul close.
How far is the KOSPI from its high?
The highest close in the past twelve months was 9,114.55 on June 22, 2026. The August 14 close is 23.44% below it, and a +30.62% move would be needed to recover it. We did not check records beyond the twelve-month window.
Sources: Korea Exchange (KRX) regular-session closes; DART electronic disclosure; iShares MSCI South Korea ETF official holdings; market data pulled directly (self-identifying as KRW / KSC / Asia-Seoul); the exchange rate via Korean media reporting of the 15:30 fix.
This is not financial advice. TheGatBull does not recommend securities. All prices are the KRX regular-session close (15:30 Seoul) unless otherwise labeled.
Written by Mr.Gat — TheGatBull
Korean market coverage from a Seoul-metro-based operator who reads the filings in the original language. Every price on this site is the KRX regular-session close (15:30 Seoul); every figure states whether it came from a primary filing, the press, or our own calculation. Drafts are AI-assisted, then verified against the original Korean documents and edited by a human before publishing.
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