Kospi edges up for third day, but gains muted despite US semiconductor surge

The Kospi, which had closed higher for two consecutive sessions, edged up in early trading Thursday, recovering the 5,400 level. However, the gain was modest compared with the sharp overnight rally in US semiconductor stocks.

At 9:40 a.m., the Kospi stood at 5,402.53, up 27.17 points, or 0.51 percent, from Wednesday. The index opened 10.58 points, or 0.20 percent, higher at 5,385.94 and extended its gains through the early session.

The index had fallen on concerns that the Democratic Party's sweeping midterm election victory last week — dubbed a "blue tsunami" — could delay or disrupt data center projects, before rebounding 4.39 percent on Tuesday and a further 2.6 percent on Wednesday.

Samsung Electronics, the top stock by market capitalization, was trading up 2.67 percent at 211,500 won ($158). SK hynix rose 0.63 percent to 1,285,000 won.

The overnight rally on Wall Street, led by AI and semiconductor stocks, appeared to lift domestic large-cap chip shares.

On the New York Stock Exchange, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.49 percent, the S&P 500 gained 1.31 percent, and the NASDAQ Composite jumped 1.60 percent.

The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index surged 5.66 percent, driven particularly by a sharp rally in AI and chip stocks.

Memory chip makers posted strong gains — Micron rose 11.89 percent, SanDisk climbed 13.69 percent, and SK hynix's American depositary receipts advanced 9.71 percent. Nvidia, which had recently weakened amid a personal scandal involving CEO Jensen Huang, also recovered, rising 2.87 percent on bargain buying.

Concerns about credit risk tied to AI infrastructure investment eased after CoreWeave, a US neo-cloud provider seen as a weak link in the AI value chain, reported strong earnings. Sentiment around related stocks also improved as Anthropic's planned NASDAQ listing drew demand several times the size of its offering. CoreWeave shares surged 24.71 percent to close at $60.77.

However, gains for Samsung Electronics and SK hynix were limited, as both had already risen sharply on Wednesday — 3.57 percent and 5.36 percent, respectively.

On the Kospi market, retail investors and foreign investors were net buyers of 206.7 billion won ($155 million) and 62 billion won, respectively, while institutions were net sellers of 325.8 billion won.

At the same time, the Kosdaq fell 0.74 percent to 699.85. The index had surged 4.48 percent on Tuesday and 5.62 percent on Wednesday, but reversed course Thursday.

Top Kosdaq stocks by market capitalization were broadly lower, with Alteogen down 3.54 percent, Ecopro off 4.08 percent, Ecopro BM falling 4.68 percent, and Jusung Engineering declining 2.02 percent.

In the Kosdaq market, retail investors were net buyers of 174.6 billion won, while foreign investors and institutions were net sellers of 133.3 billion won and 39.6 billion won, respectively.

"Market participants are skeptical about the market's ability to recover following last week's chain of sharp declines," said Han Ji-young, a researcher at Kiwoom Securities. "There is a growing tendency to treat price rebounds as selling opportunities rather than signals of a trend recovery, which is why the market has been unable to sustain intraday gains."