Samsung Electronics up 6.68%, SK hynix 5.54% on AI demand
South Korean stocks closed higher for the third straight session on Wednesday as investors purchased major chipmakers. The benchmark KOSPI rose 233.51 points, or 3.68%, to close at 6,579.04, following gains of 0.65% and 0.73% in the previous two sessions.
The KOSPI opened 1.47% higher and added gains as foreigners and institutions bought major chip names. At 11:57 a.m., the exchange operator triggered a buy-side sidecar, suspending program trading in KOSPI-listed shares for five minutes.
Trading volume reached 355 million shares worth 26.21 trillion won, with losers outnumbering gainers 477 to 378. Foreigners purchased a net 2.83 trillion won in shares and institutions bought a net 527.7 billion won, while retail investors sold a net 3.19 trillion won.
“Large order backlogs and new orders reaffirmed that investment in AI infrastructure and semiconductor demand remain solid, stimulating investor sentiment,” Lee Kyung-min, an analyst at Daishin Securities, said.
The Seoul advance came despite a modest overnight decline on Wall Street. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.34%, the S&P 500 declined 0.32% to 7,728.2, and the Nasdaq composite shed 0.60%.
Large-cap stocks finished higher, led by semiconductor names. Samsung Electronics rose 6.68% to 255,000 won per share, and rival SK hynix gained 5.54% to 1.5 million won. SK Square, which holds a stake in SK hynix, jumped 8.36% to 1.02 million won, and Samsung Electro-Mechanics, an affiliate of Samsung Electronics, rose 5.78% to 1.34 million won. LG Energy Solution climbed 1.13% to 358,500 won, and No. 1 automaker Hyundai Motor rose 1.61% to 409,500 won.
The Korean won was quoted at 1,415.7 won against the U.S. dollar at 3:30 p.m., up slightly from the previous close.
Bond prices, which move inversely to yields, closed higher. The yield on three-year government bonds fell 1.7 basis points to 3.791%, while the return on benchmark five-year bonds shed 1.7 basis points to 4.025%.