Kospi reclaims 6,900 on semiconductor surge fueled by OpenAI's Astra launch

The Kospi surged more than 3 percent in early trading Monday, reclaiming the 6,900 level on the back of a sharp rally in large-cap semiconductor stocks driven by anticipation surrounding the launch of OpenAI's new AI model, Astra.

Memory chip stocks posted broad gains on Wall Street on Friday, lifting Samsung Electronics and SK hynix sharply higher, while heavy net buying by foreign and institutional investors added further support to the index.

According to Korea Exchange, the Kospi opened at 6,910.78, up 223.57 points, or 3.34 percent, from the previous session, retaking the 6,900 level with a gain of more than 3 percent.

The advance is being led by foreign and institutional investors. Foreigners have net purchased 536.3 billion won ($394 million) and institutions 473.1 billion won, while retail investors have net sold 1.07 trillion won. Other corporations are net buyers at 69.3 billion won.

The index's rise appears to reflect the strong performance of semiconductor stocks on Wall Street on Friday, which tend to have an outsized influence on the domestic market.

OpenAI's release of Astra — a new AI model rated at the "Critical" security level — and its declaration of the dawn of an artificial general intelligence era stoked expectations that demand for high-capacity products will expand, sustaining upward pressure on memory chip prices.

While all three major US indexes closed lower, key memory chip stocks surged: Micron (+6.10%), SanDisk (+11.90%), Seagate (+6.34%) and Western Digital (+5.86%). The Philadelphia Semiconductor index rose 3.38 percent, and SK hynix's American depositary receipt climbed 8.14 percent.

Riding the tailwind from the United States, the two semiconductor heavyweights — Samsung Electronics (+4.31%) and SK hynix (+5.95%) — are leading the index higher. Related stocks SK Square (+6.44%), Samsung Life (+4.71%) and Samsung C&T (+3.81%) are also advancing.

Among other large-cap stocks, Samsung Electro-Mechanics (+2.50%), LG Energy Solution (+0.42%) and Hyundai Motor (+1.83%) are trading higher. Samsung SDI (-0.91%), Celltrion (-0.11%) and Samsung Fire (-0.60%) are in negative territory.

Kosdaq is also rising, opening at 822.91, up 9.41 points, or 1.16 percent, from the previous session. Retail investors are net buyers at 37.2 billion won, while foreigners and institutions are net sellers at 34.1 billion won and 6.3 billion won, respectively.

Among top Kosdaq-listed stocks by market cap, Ecopro (+0.12%), Ecopro BM (+0.19%) and Rainbow Robotics (+1.42%) are gaining, while Alteogen (-1.56%), ABL Bio (-0.70%) and PharmaResearch (-1.94%) are declining.