On the 14th, the KOSPI opened up in the 2% range, reclaiming 7,000 points. The U.S. stock market set a record high overnight and easing concerns over additional Federal Reserve (Fed) tightening appeared to have a positive impact on the domestic market.
The KOSPI opened at 6,995.67, up 182.33 points (2.68%) from the previous session. Immediately after the open, it slightly extended gains and at one point topped 7,000 intraday. It is the first time in 15 trading days since last month that the KOSPI has recovered the 7,000 level intraday.
By investor, individuals and foreigners were net buying about 5.2 billion won and about 200 million won, respectively, shortly after the open, while institutions were net selling about 5.1 billion won.
Most large-cap stocks by market capitalization are strong. With SK hynix(000660) leading the session with gains in the 6% range, Samsung Electronics(005930), SK Square(402340), Samsung Electro-Mechanics(009150), Samsung Life Insurance(032830), and SK(034730) are also rising.
By contrast, Hanwha Aerospace(012450), Samsung Biologics(207940), Celltrion(068270), and KB Financial Group(105560) are slightly lower.
The KOSDAQ also opened at 868.07, up 6.70 points (0.78%) from the previous session. In the KOSDAQ market, individuals are net buying about 700 million won, while foreigners and institutions are net selling about 600 million won and about 200 million won, respectively.
The U.S. market the previous day saw risk appetite spread as concerns over a reacceleration of inflation eased and expectations for additional Fed rate hikes receded. The Standard & Poor's (S&P) 500 rose 0.64% from the prior day to 7,798.31, hitting an intraday record high. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (0.81%) and the Dow Jones Industrial Average (0.13%) also climbed in unison.
After the release of July U.S. inflation data, the bond market repriced to rule out the possibility of an additional rate hike by year-end. The U.S. 2-year Government Bonds yield fell to as low as 4.15% intraday, showing strength centered on short maturities, and the volatility index (VIX) held at a low level of 14.63, easing market caution.
In particular, the U.S. market's artificial intelligence (AI) momentum appeared to have expanded sharply into memory and storage, benefiting the domestic market. Sandisk unveiled a High Bandwidth Flash (HBF) roadmap for AI inference and jumped 16%, fueling buying across memory and storage names such as Micron and Western Digital. Workday surged 26% on news of private equity acquisition talks, lifting even the recently lagging software sector.