Yesterday's standout from an inflow perspective was the +$2.2bn of net buying of South Korean stocks by offshore investors. This looks to be the strongest daily inflow on record (per BBG exchange data). It followed a +2.7% gain in the Kospi, to comfortably reach fresh cycle highs, with the index finishing up near 3550. Chip/AI sentiment surged for Samsung and SK Hynix, which came after a deal with OpenAI to supply chips for its Stargate project. For South Korea, net inflows are now back in positive territory for 2025 to date. Note South Korean markets are now out until next Friday.
Table 1: Asian Markets Net Equity Flows
| Yesterday | Past 5 Trading Days | 2025 To Date | |
| South Korea (USDmn) | 2271 | 2716 | 2089 |
| Taiwan (USDmn) | 779 | 8 | 8760 |
| India (USDmn)* | -453 | -1840 | -17453 |
| Indonesia (USDmn) | -85 | -163 | -3437 |
| Thailand (USDmn) | -6 | -118 | -2844 |
| Malaysia (USDmn) | 120 | 146 | -3586 |
| Philippines (USDmn) | -13 | -82 | -682 |
| Total (USDmn) | 2613 | 667 | -17153 |
| * Data Up To Sep 30 |
Source: Bloomberg Finance L.P./MNI
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Natural gas was slightly lower on Tuesday with European prices down 0.6% to EUR 31.88 after reaching EUR 32.74. The market is watching the US for its response to Russia’s escalation of attacks on Ukrainian cities despite talks to come to a peace deal.
The S&P(ESU5) overnight range was 6371.75 - 6472.50, SPX closed -0.69%, Asia is currently trading around 6433, +0.15%. The S&P looked in trouble at 1 point overnight, down around 1.70% and the move being led by its darling Nvidia, but demand returned sub 6400 and the news that Google will not be required to sell Chrome saw a solid bounce from the lows. We head into September which traditionally is the worst month for US Equity performance, will stocks continue to ignore seasonality like it did in August? This morning futures have opened a little higher following through with the Google news, E-minis +0.15%, NQU5 +0.25%. The market will be eyeing NFP on Friday, hoping for a catalyst to reignite momentum which looks to be stalling.
Fig 1: SPX(ESU5) 2H Chart

Source: MNI - Market News/Bloomberg Finance L.P
JGB futures are biased lower in early Wednesday dealings, although we haven't tested sub 137.20 yet. We were last 137.28, -.24 versus settlement levels. Session lows rest at 137.23.