KOSPI Rises in the 2% Range on Foreign Buying... Touches 5,500 Early in the Session [fn Morning Market Brief]

[Financial News] The KOSPI is up more than 2%, buoyed by foreign buying. U.S. stocks fell overnight on news that Jensen Huang was resigning as CEO of NVIDIA, but Samsung Electronics and SK hynix are both posting gains in the 2% range in South Korea. The KOSDAQ has also extended its gains since opening, rising above the 720 mark.
According to the Korea Exchange (KRX), as of 10:08 a.m. on the 13th, the KOSPI was trading at 5,464.05, up 121.32 points (2.27%) from the previous session. The index opened at 5,452.41, up 109.68 points (2.05%), and climbed as high as 5,504.44 early in the session before paring some of its gains.
On the main board, foreign investors and institutions were net buyers of 262.3 billion won and 16.3 billion won, respectively. Individual investors were net sellers of 402.4 billion won.
By sector, construction (3.76%), medical and precision instruments (3.61%), and electrical and electronics (2.63%) were among the gainers. Electricity and gas (-7.35%), textiles and apparel (-0.58%), and food, beverages and tobacco (-0.28%) were among the decliners.
Among the largest stocks by market capitalization, Samsung Electronics was trading at 213,000 won, up 5,000 won (2.40%) from the previous session, while SK hynix was at 1,284,000 won, up 30,000 won (2.39%). Shinhan Financial Group (5.76%), KB Financial Group (4.48%) and Hyundai Motor Company (3.38%) were also higher, while Samsung Biologics was down 1.66%.
The KOSDAQ stood at 723.49, up 26.96 points (3.87%) from the previous session. The index opened at 705.96, up 9.43 points (1.35%). Earlier, at around 10:08 a.m., foreign investors and institutions were net buyers of 41 billion won and 79.2 billion won, respectively, on the KOSDAQ market, while individual investors were net sellers of 121.5 billion won.
Han Ji-young, a researcher at KIWOOM Securities, said, “Jensen Huang’s resignation as NVIDIA CEO is a short-term burden on investor sentiment toward AI, but the likelihood of it leading to weaker demand across the AI industry is limited.” Han Ji-young went on to analyze, “Whether a correction in domestic semiconductor stocks’ share prices turns into a sustained downtrend depends less on the management change itself than on whether existing supply contracts and product launch schedules change.”

[email protected] Lee Jeong-hwa Reporter