On the 27th, the KOSPI opened just shy of the 7,000 mark. Despite the slight dip on Wall Street the previous day, it is analyzed to be showing an upward trend on the back of Nvidia's "earnings surprise."
The KOSPI index started transaction at 6,996.12, up 187.91 points (2.76%) from the previous day. As of 9:02 a.m., institutions and foreigners were net buyers of 224.3 billion won and 237.2 billion won, respectively, while individuals were net sellers of 495.0 billion won.
The KOSDAQ index also opened at 828.42, up 1.55 points (0.19%) from the previous day, showing early gains.
New York stocks closed slightly lower the previous day under pressure from inflation readings above the Federal Reserve's target and caution ahead of Nvidia's earnings release. On the 26th (local time), the Dow Jones Industrial Average ended transaction at 53,463.88, down 0.21% from the previous session. The Standard & Poor's (S&P) 500 fell 0.02% to 7,675.70, and the Nasdaq slid 0.08% to 26,130.20.
The U.S. core personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index for July rose 3.3% year over year, matching market expectations, while headline PCE climbed 3.7%, slightly exceeding forecasts. With inflation consistently above the Fed's 2% target and concerns about future price pressures from rising oil prices, caution about the path of interest rates increased.
Nvidia, the focus of market attention, reported strong results after the regular session close. Second-quarter revenue rose 106% from a year earlier to $96.22 billion, and adjusted earnings per share (EPS) came in at $2.22, both topping market estimates.
Nvidia shares initially turned lower in after-hours transaction on concerns about a slowdown in gross margin, but rebounded to around a 3% gain after CEO Jensen Huang offered an upbeat outlook on AI infrastructure demand and laid out long-term growth guidance.
Buying is also concentrated in the leading domestic semiconductor stocks, Samsung Electronics(005930) and SK hynix(000660). As of 9:02, Samsung Electronics was up 3.06% from the prior transaction day, and SK hynix was up 4.86%.
In the securities industry, the view is that Nvidia's strong results will improve investment sentiment across the semiconductor sector.
Han Ji-young, a researcher at Kiwoom Securities, said, "Nvidia's results have increased visibility for memory demand such as HBM and DRAM and strengthened memory makers' pricing power, so investment sentiment in semiconductors, which had been a leading group with elevated anxiety for a while, is expected to enter an improving phase," adding, "Today, the domestic stock market is expected to open higher led by semiconductors thanks to the Nvidia effect, with the warmth in sector returns spreading during intraday trading as well."