As the Korea-U.S. summit is held on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit, the KOSPI and KOSDAQ indexes were up in early trading on the 29th.
The KOSPI index stood at 4,037.96 at 9:06 a.m. It was up 27.55 points (0.69%) from the previous day. The KOSPI index opened at 4,061.54 on the day, setting a new record high.
Samsung Electronics and SK hynix, the No. 1 and No. 2 by market capitalization, opened higher together. It is seen as investors flocking after SK hynix announced before the open that it set an all-time high performance in the third quarter (July–September) of this year.
Overnight in the U.S. New York market, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang laid out large-scale investment plans and business prospects related to artificial intelligence (AI), dismissing concerns about an alleged "AI bubble," which also helped investor sentiment.
In addition, most of the top KOSPI market-cap stocks, including Samsung Biologics, Doosan Enerbility, HD Hyundai Heavy Industries, Hanwha Aerospace, and Hyundai Motor, are strong.
At the same time, the KOSDAQ index was down 0.59 point (0.07%) from the previous day at 902.71.
On the KOSDAQ market, shares such as Alteogen, EcoPro BM, and EcoPro traded at lower prices than the previous day. Rainbow Robotics, HLB, and Peptron saw their share prices rise from the previous day.
Starting today, representatives of major countries around the world will gather in Korea to attend the APEC summit. President Lee Jae-myung will hold his second Korea-U.S. summit with U.S. President Donald Trump, who is visiting Korea on the day. The meeting is expected to focus on tariff negotiations surrounding a $350 billion (about 500 trillion won) investment package in the United States and discussions on modernizing the Korea-U.S. alliance.
Trump will then hold a U.S.-China summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the 30th. With the two sides agreeing to a "truce" at a previous high-level meeting, the outcome of the U.S.-China summit is expected to have a significant impact on the market. President Lee will hold a Korea-China summit with Xi on Nov. 1.