The KOSPI opened higher on the 23rd, heading toward the 7,000 level. Despite an overnight decline on Wall Street, the domestic market is rising, led by semiconductors and robotics/AI corporations. The gains appear to stem from expectations of improved domestic semiconductor earnings on continued AI infrastructure investment by big tech corporations and bargain hunting after a recent steep drop.
The KOSPI index opened at 6,963.35, up 165.65 points (2.44%) from the previous transaction day. As of 9:05 a.m., it was at 6,977.57, up 179.87 points (2.65%) from the previous session, extending its gains.
In the main board, foreign investors alone were net buyers of 213.4 billion won, driving the index higher. In contrast, individuals and institutions were net sellers of 65.3 billion won and 146.8 billion won, respectively.
The KOSDAQ is also strong. The KOSDAQ started the session at 763.51, up 12.42 points (1.65%) from the previous transaction day. At the same time, the KOSDAQ index was at 766.89, up 15.80 points (2.10%) from the previous session. In the KOSDAQ market, foreign investors were net buyers of 5.8 billion won, while individuals and institutions were net sellers of 5 billion won and 600 million won, respectively.
Overnight, U.S. stocks closed lower on a sharp rise in oil prices due to heightened U.S.-Iran geopolitical tensions (WTI up 2.95% to $86.83) and caution over earnings at major big tech corporations. The three major indexes fell together: the Dow Jones Industrial Average (-0.01%), the S&P 500 (-0.14%) and the Nasdaq (-0.57%).
With the possibility raised that the United States could strike Iran's key military facilities and growing concerns over logistics disruptions around the Strait of Hormuz, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures jumped to $86.83 per barrel and Brent rose 3.36% to $94.07.
However, Alphabet, Google's parent company, announced earnings and investment plans after the close that appear to have positively influenced investor sentiment toward domestic semiconductor stocks.
Alphabet said second-quarter revenue came in at $119.8 billion, beating market expectations, and that it raised this year's capital expenditure (CAPEX) guidance to as high as $205 billion from the previous high of $190 billion to build infrastructure such as AI data centers.
An iM Securities research center analyst said, "The point to watch in Alphabet's earnings release is whether CAPEX guidance is raised," adding, "Alphabet raised its annual guidance, and this could be favorable for the domestic stock market in that it may lead to increased demand for memory semiconductors installed in data centers."
With the continued aggressiveness of capital spending by big tech corporations confirmed, buying is flowing into large-cap semiconductor names such as Samsung Electronics and SK hynix in the domestic market.
Most large-cap stocks are rising. Samsung Electronics(005930) is trading at 268,750 won, up 3.17% from the previous transaction day, and SK hynix(000660) is also surging 4.04% to 1,904,000 won. Samsung Electro-Mechanics(009150) (6.54%), SK Square(402340) (2.28%), Hyundai Motor(005380) (2.51%), LG Energy Solution(373220) (1.71%), Samsung Biologics(207940) (1.75%), HD Hyundai Heavy Industries(329180) (2.05%), Doosan Enerbility(034020) (2.60%) are all advancing in unison.