On the 24th, the KOSPI opened higher. With U.S. stocks closing lower the previous day on the fallout from a plunge in Asian semiconductor shares, bargain hunting appears to be flowing into Korea's market, which had seen steep losses the day before.
The KOSPI started trading at 8,356.79, up 152.95 points (1.86%). While foreigners are net sellers, individuals and institutions are net buyers together, lifting the index. As early gains narrowed slightly, as of 9:05 a.m., it was up around 1% near the 8,270 level.
Among the top market-cap stocks on the main board, Samsung Electronics and SK hynix are both strong, rising in early trading by 3% and 1% each from the previous session.
U.S. stocks all finished lower across the three major indexes the previous day due to the fallout from a plunge in Asian semiconductor shares, including Korea, Japan and Taiwan.
The Standard & Poor's (S&P) 500 fell 1.4% from the prior day, and the Nasdaq and Dow Jones Industrial Average also dropped 2.2% and 0.1%, respectively.
In the U.S. market, Micron and SanDisk each plunged 13.2% and 13.7% from the previous session.
Investor sentiment appears to have been sharply dampened ahead of Micron's results on the 24th (local time) and the U.S. personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index release on the 25th.
In the securities industry, it was assessed that the news, announced early that morning, of Korea's failure to be placed on the MSCI Developed Markets Index watch list would not significantly affect the domestic market. The analysis was that, based on last week's market accessibility review, which yielded negative assessments in five items, failure to be included was the expected scenario.
Han Ji-young, a researcher at Kiwoom Securities, said, "With the view that the sharp drop in semiconductor stocks in the U.S. market has been priced in, Korea's market will open higher on technical buying after the previous day's plunge and work to recoup the prior losses."
The KOSDAQ also opened higher, rebounding from the previous day's weakness. The KOSDAQ started at 905.13, up 13.61 points (1.53%) from the prior session. After a slight early pullback, as of 9:05 a.m., it was fluctuating near the 890 level. While individuals and institutions are net buyers, foreigners are net sellers.