Foreign buying drives KOSPI to record high, virtual assets mixed.
2026-04-21
The domestic stock market recorded a strong close, breaking through its all-time intraday high, buoyed by active buying from foreign investors. The KOSPI index wrote a new historic high, closing at 6388.47 points, up 2.72% from the previous trading day. The KOSDAQ market also continued its stable upward trend, rising 0.36% to 1179.03. Concurrently, in the Seoul foreign exchange market, the won-dollar exchange rate finished trading at 1468.5 won, down 8.7 won. This trend of dollar weakness is interpreted as fueling risk appetite for risk assets.
Meanwhile, the digital asset market showed mixed movements over the past 24 hours. The total market cap decreased by 1.15% to approximately $2.53 trillion, but major assets like Bitcoin and Ethereum showed divergent trends, rising 1.74% and 0.73% respectively. Major altcoins also generally maintained slight gains, but overall market sentiment remains unstable. The Fear & Greed Index, a market sentiment indicator, remained in the 'Fear' zone, though it showed a moderating trend compared to last week.
Overseas, security incidents within the digital asset ecosystem and inflows of institutional funds are drawing simultaneous attention. A major Layer 2 project took emergency measures to freeze and transfer a large amount of assets linked to a hacking incident. This has sustained concerns about the overall decentralized finance market. Conversely, in the US spot ETF market, net inflows into Bitcoin and Ethereum funds have continued steadily, indicating that sustained institutional interest is acting as a buffer against market declines. Furthermore, large-scale buying by major asset management firms has provided a degree of stability to market sentiment.
Domestically, regulatory issues and exchange listings have intertwined to attract attention. Major exchanges are successively listing new digital assets in the Korean won market, expanding their service areas. Simultaneously, the first hearing for an application to suspend the execution of a business suspension order issued by authorities to one exchange is scheduled to take place within this week. The court's decision on this matter could directly impact the company's business operations, drawing industry focus. Investors are keenly attuned to external variables such as US economic indicators and central bank officials' remarks, closely watching how shifts in future monetary policy expectations might affect the broader risk asset market.