Seoul Shares Surge on Chip Rally and Retreating U.S. Bond Yields

The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose more than 6 percent late Thursday morning, reaching 6,872.61 as of 11:20 a.m. This sharp increase followed a previous session where the index plunged nearly 6 percent due to tech sell-offs and rising bond yields. The rally was driven by strong gains in major chipmakers, with Samsung Electronics jumping 8.99 percent and SK hynix surging 12.27 percent. The growth in SK hynix followed the company's announcement of plans to buy back 40 trillion won, or approximately 28.7 billion U.S. dollars, worth of shares to increase shareholder returns. Other related gains included SK Square, which advanced 9.21 percent, and Samsung Electro-Mechanics, which rose 0.65 percent by late morning. The market movement was further supported by overnight gains on Wall Street, where U.S. Treasury yields retreated after the Treasury Department announced plans to increase buybacks of longer-term government debts. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.22 percent, the S&P 500 added 0.21 percent, and the Nasdaq Composite Index climbed 0.16 percent. Due to the rapid rise, the Korea Exchange activated a buy-side sidecar at approximately 9:58 a.m. suspending program trading for five minutes after the KOSPI 200 Futures Index rose 5 percent or more for at least one minute. The Korean won was trading at 1,394.4 won against the U.S. dollar as of 11:20 a.m. down 5.3 won from the previous session's close.