The Kospi surged past the 8,000 mark at the opening bell Friday, climbing as much as 8 percent during morning trading. The standout development was a return to net buying by foreign investors — their first since May 7, ending a streak of 25 consecutive trading days of net selling.
Foreign investors had sold a net 1.4026 trillion won (about $919 million) on Thursday alone, capping a run of 24 straight sessions of net selling.
Buoyed by the foreign buying, Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix both surged 8 to 9 percent, with Samsung Electronics touching 320,000 won and SK Hynix reaching 2.272 million won per share.
The rally was driven in part by easing geopolitical tensions after US President Donald Trump said overnight that a ceasefire agreement with Iran was imminent, lifting risk sentiment across markets.
According to Korea Exchange, the Kospi stood at 8,361.85 as of 9:20 a.m. Friday, up 597.90 points, or 7.70 percent, from the previous session. The index opened at 8,263.85, a gain of 499.90 points, or 6.44 percent, clearing the 8,000 threshold at the open.
A sidecar — a temporary suspension of program buy orders — was triggered on the main bourse Friday, the 13th such buy-side sidecar activation this year.
Korea Exchange activated the sidecar at 9:06:02 a.m. At the time of activation, the KOSPI 200 futures index stood at 1,332.00, up 95.95 points, or 7.76 percent, from the previous close. The Kospi sidecar is triggered when the KOSPI 200 futures price rises 5 percent or more above its reference price and holds that level for at least one minute, suspending program buy orders for five minutes.
Large-cap semiconductor stocks that have led the Kospi higher were also rising sharply. Samsung Electronics traded at 334,000 won, up 35,000 won, or 11.7 percent, while SK Hynix gained 71,000 won, or 8.1 percent, to 2.272 million won.
Top market-capitalization stocks advanced across the board. SK Square rose 9.4 percent and Samsung C&T climbed 10.2 percent, while Samsung Electronics preferred shares gained 10.0 percent and Samsung Electro-Mechanics added 9.9 percent. Samsung Life rose 8.4 percent, Hyundai Motor gained 5.3 percent, LG Energy Solution added 5.5 percent, HD Hyundai Heavy rose 4.8 percent and Kia advanced 4.1 percent.
US stocks also surged overnight. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.86 percent, the S&P 500 gained 1.75 percent and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite climbed 2.54 percent.
The primary catalyst was optimism over a potential end to the Iran conflict. Trump posted on his Truth Social platform that talks with Iran had "gone all the way up to the Supreme Leader and received approval," and announced he had called off airstrikes and bombing runs against Iran that had been scheduled for Friday evening, easing fears of a broader Middle East escalation.
Semiconductor stocks rebounded sharply in New York. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index surged about 8 percent, its biggest single-day gain in a year. Oil prices tumbled.
dlcw@heraldcorp.com
