Macro Dashboard
| Indicator | Level | 5-Day Change | Signal |
|---|---|---|---|
| KOSPI | 8,185.3 | +4.7% | Bullish |
| KOSDAQ | 1,104.4 | -0.1% | Flat |
| USD/KRW | 1,502.6 | -0.1% | Stable |
| VIX | 16.8 | +0.3% | Calm |
| US 10Y | 4.48% | -10 bps | Stable |
| Brent | $94.9 | -8.4% | Falling |
Regime: KR Bull / US Bull. Stance: active expansion. KOSPI’s five-day gain of 4.7% stands in contrast to KOSDAQ’s flat print — a 4.9 percentage-point large-cap divergence that has been building all week.
Market Wrap
KOSPI’s headline at 8,185 tells a cleaner story than the market actually delivered on May 28. Under the surface, breadth was poor: of 2,490 listed names, only 553 advanced against 1,709 decliners. The ADR proxy sat at 32.4, average stock change was -0.22%, and total turnover came in at 20.6 trillion KRW — a session of selective rotation, not broad participation.
The clearest flow story of the day was a rotation within large caps, out of semiconductor heavyweights and into components. Foreigners sold SK Hynix (000660.KS) to the tune of 1.89 trillion KRW and dumped Samsung Electronics (005930.KS) for another 1.56 trillion, but simultaneously bought Samsung Electro-Mechanics (009150.KS, +13.44%) and Samsung SDI (006400.KS, +7.30%) in size. LG Innotek (011070.KS, +8.62%) drew combined foreign and institutional interest. The read: overseas money is not leaving Korea’s tech complex — it is repositioning within it, shifting exposure from memory to component and battery names.
Institutions partially offset the foreign sell-down in SK Hynix, ranking it as their top net buy of the session. NAVER (035420.KS, +3.12%) drew joint institutional and foreign interest. On the other side, Korean institutions were decisive sellers of Samsung Electronics, Hanmi Semiconductor (042700.KS, -8.31%), LS Electric (010120.KS, -5.74%), and Jusung Engineering (036930.KS, -9.17%).
Defense and shipbuilding names pulled back: Hanwha Ocean (042660.KS, -7.93%), HD Hyundai Heavy Industries (329180.KS, -5.38%). The 8.4% five-day decline in Brent crude is a broadly supportive input cost signal for Korean manufacturers, but today it appeared to weigh on energy-adjacent names more than it lifted margins stories.
The session’s notable movers were concentrated in small-cap, high-beta names rather than quality compounders — a reminder that, even within a Bull regime, the current breadth environment (only 25.3% of stocks above their 50-day MA, 39.9% above the 200-day) demands careful stock selection over index-level positioning.
Today’s Quality Re-Rating Candidates
Four names swept all five screeners simultaneously today — Quality Compounder, Smart Money Quality, Cycle Rerating, Smart Money Earnings, and PEAD — a rare clean sweep that concentrates the research queue sharply.
Top Candidates Table
| Rank | Ticker | Name | Meta Score | Screeners Hit | ROE | OP YoY | Margin Δ | Key Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 089970.KQ | VM (브이엠) | 102.9 | 5/5 | 14.8% | +387% | +29.3pp | Smart money absorbing retail supply |
| 2 | 252990.KQ | SamCNS (샘씨엔에스) | 91.3 | 5/5 | 9.7% | +183% | +9.1pp | F+QI net selling — caution on flow |
| 3 | 053610.KQ | Protek (프로텍) | 89.9 | 5/5 | 13.7% | +244% | +12.2pp | F+QI net selling — caution on flow |
| 4 | 039030.KS | Iotechnics (이오테크닉스) | 79.5 | 5/5 | 8.3% | +159% | +11.5pp | Short interest 19.8% — monitor |
| 5 | 420770.KQ | Gigavis (기가비스) | 73.5 | 4/5 | 7.3% | +777% | +29.9pp | Missing Smart Money Quality leg |
| 6 | 095610.KQ | TES (테스) | 67.9 | 3/5 | 14.5% | +50% | +0.4pp | Supply contract filed May 21 |
| 7 | 000660.KS | SK Hynix | 55.7 | 2/5 | 35.6% | +101% | +13.1pp | Treasury share disposal; heavy outflow |
| 8 | 064850.KQ | FnGuide (에프앤가이드) | 54.9 | 3/5 | 15.1% | +41% | +5.9pp | Consensus z-score +1.19 |
Top Three in Detail
#1 — VM (089970.KQ, 브이엠) is a semiconductor and display process equipment maker. Today it scores highest on both the meta screener (102.9) and the PEAD composite (+2.06, #1 in Tier A), reflecting operating income growth of 387% YoY on revenue that more than doubled (+106%). The margin expansion of 29.3 percentage points in a single year is the strongest in the candidate queue. The critical flow read: over the past five sessions, foreign and institutional buyers absorbed 22.75 billion KRW net while retail distributed 12.92 billion — the direction of flow is aligned with the quality signal. Two recent DART filings, neither flagged as risk. Next check: order backlog visibility and whether the operating leverage can sustain or whether Q1 was a peak beat.
#2 — SamCNS (252990.KQ, 샘씨엔에스) produces semiconductor packaging materials. Operating income grew 183% YoY, net income expanded 358%, and margin improved 9.1 percentage points. Smart Money Quality ranks it #1 and Smart Money Earnings ranks it #1 — the earnings-flow combination is exceptional. However, the flow nuance matters here: net foreign and institutional selling over five sessions totals -11.16 billion KRW, with retail stepping in to absorb (+3.34B). This is the reverse of VM’s flow structure. An IR event held May 21 (DART filing confirmed) may clarify the demand picture. The caution is real but does not disqualify the fundamental case; it demands that any entry price reflects the flow headwind.
#3 — Protek (053610.KQ, 프로텍) is a semiconductor bonding and packaging equipment supplier. Operating income +244% YoY, margin +12.2pp, and the name holds the second-highest Cycle Rerating rank (#2) in the full screener. Like SamCNS, the five-session flow shows net foreign and institutional selling (-9.04B), partially offset by retail (+3.29B). Three DART filings are on record, all classified neutral. The company sits at PER 15.9x with ROE 13.7% — relative to the quality of its earnings acceleration, that is inexpensive compared to peers at 30-80x in the same screener cohort.
Framework note: Any name appearing in five screeners simultaneously is rare by construction — today’s four-name clean sweep (VM, SamCNS, Protek, Iotechnics) is a concentrated signal, not a routine output. None of these mentions constitute a buy recommendation. They are research candidates that pass quality, flow, earnings cycle, and post-earnings drift filters as of May 28, 2026. Verify forward guidance, supply chain exposure, and valuation headroom before forming a view.