KOSPI back above 6,000 as Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix surge [fn afternoon market]

[Financial News] The KOSPI Composite Index surged more than 6% intraday on the 28th, topping the 6,000 mark. It had been 10 trading days since the index last reclaimed the 6,000 level.
As of 1:20 p.m. that day, the KOSPI Composite Index was at 6,004.85, up 366.51 points (6.50%) from the previous session.
The index opened at 5,763.85, up 125.51 points (2.23%) from the previous session, and its gains quickly widened. As it continued to rise sharply during the session, a buy-sidecar was triggered for a second straight day.
Investor sentiment recovered after SK Hynix announced before the market opened that it planned to return a total of 100 trillion won to shareholders this year. In a filing that day, SK Hynix put its expected shareholder returns for the year at about 100 trillion won.
The company plans to spend at least 30 trillion won on cash dividends and at least 60 trillion won on the purchase and cancellation of treasury shares. It posted 83 trillion won in operating profit in the third quarter this year, extending its record earnings streak to six consecutive quarters. That exceeded market expectations of about 77 trillion won.
Samsung Electronics was trading at 241,500 won, up 8.78%, while SK Hynix was at 1,476,000 won, up 10.07%. Large-cap semiconductor and artificial intelligence (AI)-related stocks were strong, including SK Square (up 10.63%) and Samsung Electro-Mechanics (up 8.99%).
At the same time, foreign investors and institutions were both buying on the Korea Exchange. Foreign investors were net buyers of 777.8 billion won, and institutions of 986.9 billion won. Individuals, by contrast, were selling 1.7747 trillion won on their own in the KOSPI market. 
The KOSDAQ was up 3.15% at 767.23.
Gains on the New York stock market overnight also helped bolster recovering investor sentiment. News that large sums had poured into Meta's capital increase, amid optimism about an Anthropic initial public offering (IPO), appears to have boosted sentiment toward AI investments.
On the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) closed at 52,377.57, up 15.99 points (0.03%) from the previous session.
The S&P 500 Index closed up 45.83 points (0.60%) at 7,722.60, while the Nasdaq Composite Index climbed 308.43 points (1.18%) to 26,477.81. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index also rose more than 3%.

[email protected] Joo Won-gyu Reporter