South Korean Stocks Surge for Third Straight Session on Chip Rally

South Korean stocks ended sharply higher for the third consecutive session on Wednesday, driven by strong investor interest in major semiconductor companies. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 233.51 points, or 3.68 percent, to close at 6,579.04. This followed gains of 0.65 percent and 0.73 percent in the previous two sessions. The Korean won also gained against the U.S. dollar, quoted at 1,415.7 won at 3:30 p.m. up 0.3 won from the previous close.

Market activity was characterized by significant buying from foreigners and institutions, who purchased a net 2.83 trillion won and 527.7 billion won worth of stocks, respectively. In contrast, retail investors offloaded a net 3.19 trillion won in shares. The surge in chip stocks was led by Samsung Electronics, which rose 6.68 percent to 255,000 won per share, and SK hynix, which gained 5.54 percent to 1.5 million won. Other gains included SK Square at 8.36 percent, Samsung Electro-Mechanics at 5.78 percent, Hyundai Motor at 1.61 percent, and LG Energy Solution at 1.13 percent.

Lee Kyung-min, an analyst at Daishin Securities, stated that solid demand for semiconductor and artificial intelligence infrastructure investment stimulated investor sentiment. The rally occurred despite overnight declines in U.S. markets, where the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.34 percent, the S&P 500 declined 0.32 percent, and the Nasdaq composite shed 0.60 percent. During the trading day, the bourse operator activated a buy-side sidecar at 11:57 a.m. which suspended program trading for five minutes. Trade volume reached 355 million shares worth 26.21 trillion won, although losers outnumbered gainers 477 to 378.