KOSPI surges 2.66% on Wall Street rally, foreign buying
The won-dollar exchange rate and KOSPI closing figure are displayed on an electronic board at Hana Bank’s headquarters in Seoul, Friday. KOSPI closed at 6,894.23, up 178.82 points, or 2.66 percent, from the previous session. Yonhap
KOSPI surged more than 2 percent on Friday, reclaiming the 6,890 threshold, driven by an overnight rally on Wall Street and a resurgence in foreign buying.
The main index opened at 6,885.70, up 170.29 points, or 2.54 percent, from the previous close. It briefly climbed to an intraday high of 6,914.08, up 2.96 percent, breaking above the 6,900 level before closing at 6,894.23, up 178.82 points, or 2.66 percent.
Foreign and institutional market participants led the buying spree, scooping up a net 438.8 billion won ($317 million) and 1.5 trillion won in equities, respectively. In contrast, retail investors unloaded a net 3.59 trillion won.
Notably, this marked the first session of net buying by foreign investors since Sept. 8.
The index turned around after holding up relatively well in the previous session, when it fell just 0.04 percent despite the U.S. Federal Reserve’s hawkish rate hike.
Local equities drew significant upward momentum from overnight gains in all three major U.S. stock indexes, supported by retreating U.S. Treasury yields and cooling global crude oil prices.
Market sentiment toward the semiconductor sector was also lifted by optimism following remarks from Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, who said the firm’s sales could double next year from current annual levels.
Meanwhile, Samsung Electronics and SK hynix closed up 3.4 percent and 6.4 percent, respectively.
"The retreat in 10-year U.S. Treasury yields combined with stabilizing crude oil prices helped reignite risk appetite among investors," said Lee Kyung-min, an analyst at Daishin Securities. "A strong performance in U.S. tech stocks directly translated into a sentiment boost for domestic semiconductor shares."
The tech-heavy Kosdaq index, meanwhile, opened 10.54 points, or 1.28 percent, higher at 832.72 and briefly climbed to 833.57, up 1.39 percent, before paring some of its early gains. It eventually closed at 827.12, up 4.94 points, or 0.60 percent, extending its winning streak to four sessions.
In the Seoul foreign exchange market, the won closed at 1,383.3 won against the U.S. dollar in onshore trading, weakening 1.1 won from the previous session.