On the 14th, the KOSPI index rose more than 2% on the back of strong buying by foreign investors and closed just shy of reclaiming the 7,000 level.
In New York trading the day before, the U.S. July consumer price index (CPI) matched market expectations, easing rate pressures, and a rebound in artificial intelligence (AI) risk appetite centered on big tech carried over to large caps such as domestic semiconductors and autos, lifting the market.
The KOSPI index finished at 6,977.34, up 164.00 points (2.41%) from the previous session. The index opened at 6,995.67, up 182.33 points (2.68%) from the prior close, and at one point pared gains to the 1% range, but as large-scale foreign inflows persisted, it maintained gains in the 2% range into the close.
In the main board, foreigners alone were net buyers and led the index higher. Foreigners bought a net 2.86 trillion won, while individuals and institutions sold a net 1.81 trillion won and 1.08 trillion won, respectively. Among institutions, brokerages showed a net selling bias of 1.17 trillion won.
The KOSDAQ index closed at 864.64, up 3.27 points (0.38%) from the previous session. The KOSDAQ opened at 868.07, up 6.70 points (0.78%) from the prior close, turned lower in the morning, but ended slightly higher on the back of strong individual buying.
On the KOSDAQ, individual buying alone supported the downside of the index. Individuals bought a net 125 billion won, while foreigners and institutions sold a net 31 billion won and 89 billion won, respectively.
The main drivers of the domestic market's rise were macro tailwinds and a tech breeze from New York. With the U.S. July CPI increase announced the previous night matching forecasts, expectations for a rate cut by the Federal Reserve (Fed) strengthened further.
The Standard & Poor's (S&P) 500 rose 0.64% to 7,798.31, hitting an intraday record high. The tech-heavy Nasdaq (0.81%) and the Dow Jones Industrial Average (0.13%) also climbed in unison.
In particular, as global semiconductor and AI infrastructure stocks, including Nvidia, strengthened again, foreign funds flowed heavily into domestic large caps by market capitalization. Concerns raised recently about a peak-out in the memory semiconductor cycle eased somewhat, and expectations for increased power and semiconductor demand from AI data centers appeared to stoke risk appetite.
Overnight, after SanDisk unveiled a High Bandwidth Flash (HBF) roadmap for AI inference and surged 16%, buying spread across memory and storage names such as Micron and Western Digital, and warmth reached previously neglected software stocks as Workday jumped 26% on news of private equity acquisition talks.
Most top market-cap names on the main board gained. The bellwether Samsung Electronics(005930) ended at 274,500 won, up 2.43% from the previous session, and SK hynix(000660) jumped 3.26% to 1,645,000 won. Group IT and semiconductor names such as Samsung Electronics(1P)(005935) (4.15%), SK Square(402340) (3.31%), and Samsung Electro-Mechanics(009150) (3.66%) also rose across the board.
Auto and secondary battery stocks also rallied sharply. Hyundai Motor(005380) soared 8.24% to close at 453,000 won, while Kia(000270) (3.13%) and Hyundai Mobis(012330) (7.05%) also jumped. Battery names such as LG Energy Solution(373220) (1.09%), Samsung SDI(006400) (5.95%), and SK Innovation(096770) (5.75%) were likewise strong. SK Telecom(017670) also surged 10.32%, breaking above the 100,000 won level, while SK(034730) (5.79%), Hanwha Ocean(042660) (5.62%), and Doosan Enerbility(034020) (2.10%) also contributed to the index's rise.