KOSPI rises 1.61% to 5,145.81 as chip stocks recover

Key Facts

The KOSPI rose 1.61% to 5,145.81 points at around 11:08 a.m. Seoul time on Nov. 9, recovering losses after falling below 5,000 points at the start of trading. The index ranged between 4,990.66 and 5,151.84 points during the session, reflecting sharp volatility in the Korean market. Chip stocks led gains, with SK Hynix rising 4.51% to 1,182,000 won and Samsung Electronics gaining 3.29% to 194,800 won at the same time. The rebound followed a 5.3% drop in the KOSPI on Nov. 6, according to the Associated Press. But morning trading data showed foreign investors remained net sellers, making the index's rise a test of the recovery's durability rather than a confirmed shift in market direction.

Institutions bought a net 297.3 billion won worth of shares during the morning session, while retail investors added net purchases of 68.7 billion won. Foreign investors, by contrast, sold a net 469.3 billion won, continuing to weigh on the market despite the index's rise. The divergence highlights the rebound's reliance on domestic demand, as the upward move was not matched by foreign investor flows. The KOSPI's Nov. 6 decline came amid pressure on shares of companies benefiting from the artificial intelligence boom, according to the Associated Press. Chip gains in Seoul therefore came as AI-linked shares remained sensitive to moves in the global sector.

The rise in Korean chip stocks coincided with a 4.21% rebound in the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index on Friday, Nov. 6, after it fell 12.25% in the previous session, according to Agom Press. The U.S. recovery provided a supportive backdrop for Korean producers' shares, but did not dispel volatility across the sector. An Agom Press report linked investor concerns to the Democrats' victory and the possibility of tighter regulation of data centers, as well as the financial burden of investing in AI infrastructure. Tokyo and Seoul indexes fell 6% on Thursday, Nov. 5, following Wall Street's decline, according to the Associated Press. These moves show that the selloff and rebound extended across Asian technology markets before chip stocks recovered some of their losses.

The KOSPI's gains also came on the day a roughly three-month exemption from the requirement to maintain collateral at 140% on margin loans took effect. The measure allows brokerage firms to adjust collateral ratios or defer forced liquidations, according to an Agom Press report. The relief is aimed at curbing forced selling tied to margin loans amid price volatility. The main index's rise, however, did not extend across the entire Korean market: the KOSDAQ fell 1.6% to 633.96 points in the morning session. The report cited pressure from biotechnology and battery stocks on the index, while chip stocks supported the main benchmark.

Previous closing data provide context for the scale of the decline that preceded the Nov. 9 rebound: the KOSPI closed at 5,859.08 points on Nov. 2, then ended the Nov. 6 session at 5,059.69 points, according to EL7 data. Later in Asian trading on Nov. 9, the Associated Press reported a gain of about 1.5% to 5,137.22 points, with Samsung Electronics up 2.7% and SK Hynix up 3.9%. That reading differs from the figures reported by Agom Press at around 11:08 a.m. because it describes a different time in the session. At the sector level, SK Hynix reported record third-quarter results on Oct. 28, with revenue of 104.6155 trillion won, operating profit of 83.3338 trillion won and an operating margin of 80%. Samsung said demand for its AI-related chips is set to accelerate through 2027, outstripping supply as customers expand their AI infrastructure.