Seoul Shares Jump for Third Session on Chip Rally
Key Takeaways
- •The Kospi gained 3.68 percent to close at 6,579.04, marking a third consecutive session of advances.
- •Foreign investors and institutions were net buyers, while retail investors were net sellers.
- •Samsung Electronics rose 6.68 percent and SK hynix climbed 5.54 percent as chip stocks led the market higher.
- •The exchange activated a buy-side sidecar at 11:57 a.m., briefly suspending program trading for five minutes.
- •The Korean won strengthened slightly to 1,415.7 won against the US dollar.
South Korean stocks ended sharply higher for a third straight session on Wednesday as investors bought up major chipmakers, underscoring the outsized role semiconductor demand plays in Asia's fourth-largest economy. The Korean won also strengthened against the US dollar.
The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index rose 233.51 points, or 3.68 percent, to close at 6,579.04, after gaining 0.65 percent and 0.73 percent in the previous two sessions.
The Kospi opened 1.47 percent higher and extended its gains as foreigners and institutions bought major chip heavyweights. The rally stood in contrast to overnight losses on Wall Street, where the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.34 percent, the S&P 500 declined 0.32 percent to 7,728.2, and the Nasdaq composite shed 0.60 percent.
At 11:57 a.m., the bourse operator activated a buy-side sidecar — a market stability mechanism that temporarily halts program trading when futures prices surge beyond a set threshold — and program trading for Kospi-listed shares was suspended for five minutes.
Trading volume was moderate, with 355 million shares worth 26.21 trillion won ($18.49 billion) changing hands. Losers outnumbered gainers 477 to 378.
Foreign investors and institutions bought a net 2.83 trillion won and 527.7 billion won worth of stocks, respectively, while retail investors sold a net 3.19 trillion won.
"Large order backlogs and new orders reaffirmed that investment in artificial intelligence infrastructure and semiconductor demand remain solid, stimulating investor sentiment," Lee Kyung-min, an analyst at Daishin Securities, said.
In Seoul, large-cap stocks finished higher. Semiconductor heavyweight Samsung Electronics, the world's largest memory chipmaker, rose 6.68 percent to 255,000 won per share, and rival SK hynix, a leading supplier of high-bandwidth memory chips used in AI accelerators, gained 5.54 percent to 1.5 million won.
SK Square, the parent of SK hynix, jumped 8.36 percent to 1.02 million won, while Samsung Electro-Mechanics, an electronics component affiliate of Samsung Electronics, increased 5.78 percent to 1.34 million won.
LG Energy Solution advanced 1.13 percent to 358,500 won, and Hyundai Motor, the country's top automaker, rose 1.61 percent to 409,500 won.
The Korean won was quoted at 1,415.7 won against the US dollar at 3:30 p.m., up 0.3 won from the previous day's close. (Yonhap)
