The South Korean stock market experienced a significant surge Thursday morning, primarily fueled by robust gains in key semiconductor shares. This market optimism follows a stronger-than-anticipated earnings report from U.S. memory chip giant Micron Technology, bolstering investor confidence in the tech sector.
The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) initially climbed 2.74 percent before escalating further, adding an impressive 474.93 points, or 5.61 percent, to reach 8,945.95 by 9:15 a.m. local time.
This remarkable upward momentum prompted the Seoul bourse operator to implement a buy-side sidecar at 9:07 a.m., temporarily pausing program trading for five minutes to manage market volatility.
A buy-side sidecar mechanism is activated when the KOSPI 200 Futures index registers an increase of 5 percent or more, sustained for a minimum of one minute.
Globally, Wall Street concluded trading overnight with mixed results, largely due to ongoing concerns regarding the potential overvaluation of artificial intelligence (AI) related shares.
Specifically, the Dow Jones Industrial Average posted a 0.35 percent gain, while the S&P 500 saw a slight decline of 0.1 percent, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite edged down by 0.43 percent.
Despite the mixed U.S. close, investor sentiment significantly improved after Micron Technology’s quarterly report, released post-market closure, revealed results and forecasts that comfortably surpassed market expectations, sending positive ripples across global markets.
Back in Seoul, leading chipmakers led the charge. Market bellwether Samsung Electronics saw its shares jump by 4.99 percent, while memory chip giant SK hynix recorded an impressive soar of 9.88 percent.
Further reflecting the tech sector’s strength, Samsung Electro-Mechanics, a key electronic components manufacturing affiliate of Samsung Electronics, advanced by 2.24 percent. Similarly, SK Square, the holding company for SK hynix, vaulted upwards by 8.56 percent.
Beyond semiconductors, the automotive sector also posted gains, with top carmaker Hyundai Motor climbing 1.18 percent and its auto parts affiliate Hyundai Mobis gaining 2.16 percent.
