“Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix blaze higher” ... KOSPI reclaims 6,000 for first time in 10 trading sessions [fn Market Close]

[Financial News] The KOSPI Composite Index reclaimed the 6,000 mark for the first time in 10 trading sessions. SK Hynix’s large-scale shareholder return plan and strong earnings lifted investor sentiment, while heavy net buying by both institutions and foreign investors drove the index to its biggest gain since July 31.
According to the Korea Exchange, the KOSPI Composite Index closed at 6,012.44 on the 28th, up 374.10 points (6.64%) from the previous trading day. It was the first time the index had recovered the 6,000 mark since the 14th, after 10 trading sessions. The index opened at 5,763.85, up 125.51 points (2.23%) from the previous session, and extended its gains. At around 9:54 a.m., a buy-sidecar was triggered for a second consecutive day. At one point, the index jumped 6.99% to 6,032.28.
SK Hynix’s strong earnings and shareholder return plan, announced before the market opened, sparked investor sentiment. In a disclosure that day, SK Hynix said it planned to allocate at least 30 trillion won to cash dividends this year and at least 60 trillion won to share buybacks and cancellations. Its third-quarter operating profit came to 83 trillion won, exceeding the market forecast of around 77 trillion won and extending its record earnings streak to six consecutive quarters.
The previous night’s gains on Wall Street also helped shore up investor sentiment. Expectations for Anthropic’s initial public offering (IPO), along with news that Meta’s capital increase drew a large influx of funds, boosted sentiment toward AI-related stocks.
Amid the favorable news, SK Hynix closed up 10.89% at 1,487,000 won, while Samsung Electronics rose 9.01% to close at 240,200 won. SK Square (11.23%) and Samsung Electro-Mechanics (8.74%) also posted strong gains.
By investor category, foreign investors and institutions were net buyers. On the stock market, foreign investors bought a net 823.2 billion won and institutions bought a net 960.1 billion won. Individuals, by contrast, were net sellers of 1.8021 trillion won.
The KOSDAQ closed at 771.28, up 3.69% from the previous trading day. Institutions made net purchases worth 225 billion won, while individuals and foreign investors made net sales worth 32 billion won and 183 billion won, respectively. All of the 10 largest stocks by market capitalization rose, including Rainbow Robotics (15.08%) and Jusung Engineering (6.12%).
Lee Jae-won, a researcher at Yuanta Securities Korea, said, “Concerns about the sustainability of AI investment and the thesis that memory profits have peaked are being challenged by earnings. With foreign buying also joining in, the rebound is making positive progress over its second major hurdle. The cash flows of AI customers and their funding burden remain variables to be tested.”

[email protected] Joo Won-gyu Reporter