Blue-chip semiconductor stocks Samsung Electronics and SK hynix were strong early on the 29th on news that they posted solid results last year on the back of a "semiconductor boom."
As of 9:11 a.m. that day, Samsung Electronics was trading at 165,600 won, up 3,200 won (1.97%) from the previous session. In the premarket, it jumped to 168,200 won, hitting an all-time high.
At the same time, SK hynix was up 4.28% at 877,000 won. It also touched an early-session high of 910,000 won.
Before the regular session opened that day, Samsung Electronics disclosed that in the fourth quarter of last year (October to December) it posted revenue of 93.8374 trillion won and operating profit of 20.0737 trillion won. It became the first domestic corporations to surpass 20 trillion won in quarterly operating profit. On an annual basis, revenue came to about 333.6 trillion won and operating profit to about 43.6 trillion won.
The previous day after the regular session closed, SK hynix said it achieved record quarterly results with fourth-quarter revenue of 32.8267 trillion won, operating profit of 19.1696 trillion won, and an operating margin of 58%. Full-year operating profit was about 47 trillion won, surpassing Samsung Electronics.
SK hynix also announced an expanded shareholder return plan. It decided to pay an additional dividends of 1,500 won per share totaling 1 trillion won, and on Feb. 9 it will cancel in full 15.3 million treasury shares, equivalent to a 2.1% equity stake (about 12.24 trillion won). Samsung Electronics also plans to pay a settlement of account special dividends totaling 1.3 trillion won.