As investor sentiment for the semiconductor sector revived, the KOSPI rebounded on the 17th. In particular, foreign investors, who had been net sellers in November, turned to "buy," lifting the index.
On the 17th, the KOSPI closed at 4,089.25, up 77.68 points (1.94%) from the previous session. The KOSPI opened at 4,078.57, up 67.00 points (1.67%) from the previous day, and jumped intraday to 4,089.88 but pared gains on retail selling.
In the KOSPI market, foreigners and institutions were net buyers of 460 billion won and 53 billion won, respectively, driving the index higher. Individual investors alone dumped 493 billion won.
KOSPI large-cap stocks closed mixed. Among all KOSPI listings, 393 stocks rose and 493 fell. The remaining 42 were flat.
On the day, bellwether semiconductor stocks Samsung Electronics and SK hynix surged, leading the KOSPI rebound. Samsung Electronics rose 3.5%, and SK hynix climbed 8.21%, defending "100,000-electronics" and "600,000-nynix," respectively. As the artificial intelligence (AI) bubble narrative that drove last week's decline eased, bargain hunting flowed in, and investor sentiment improved on media reports that Samsung Electronics raised memory chip prices.
A warm tailwind also blew through food stocks. Nongshim and Samyang Foods rose 9.35% and 4.92%, respectively. As the effect of global selling price hikes appeared and global sales performed strongly in the third quarter in China and Europe, buying interest came in. Pulmuone (5.83%) and S&D (4.3%) also reflected positive quarterly results in their share prices.
As the Chinese government advised its citizens to refrain from visiting Japan, domestic travel-related stocks also jumped. Seobu T&D (18.25%), Lotte Tour Development (12.63%), Hotel Shilla (4.92%), and GKL (3.92%) all closed higher.
On the day, the KOSDAQ index closed at 902.67, up 4.77 points (0.53%) from the previous session. The KOSDAQ opened at 904.15, up 6.25 points (0.70%) from the prior session, then moved in a flat range. Individuals and institutional investors were net buyers of 54 billion won and 40 billion won, respectively. In contrast, foreign investors had a net selling advantage of 97 billion won.
Among the top 10 KOSDAQ stocks by market cap, shares of eight rose. EcoPro BM, ABL Bio, Peptron, LigaChem Biosciences, and Sam Chun Dang Pharm all closed higher than the previous session. In contrast, Alteogen and EcoPro fell in the 1% range.
In the Seoul foreign exchange market, the weekly closing price for the won-dollar exchange rate (as of 3:30 p.m.) finished at 1,458.0 won, up 1.0 won from the previous session.