Kospi retreats to 5,340 range despite third straight day of foreign buying, rattled by Jensen Huang ouster report

The Kospi reversed course Thursday for the first time in three sessions, slipping back to the 5,340 range. The index had climbed more than 1.5 percent intraday on the back of overnight gains in US semiconductor stocks, but surrendered all of those gains after reports emerged about the possible removal of Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang.

According to the Korea Exchange, the Kospi closed down 32.63 points, or 0.61 percent, at 5,342.73. The index opened up 10.58 points, or 0.20 percent, at 5,385.94 and rose as high as 5,458.84 during the session before swinging sharply lower, at one point touching 5,293.05, reflecting high volatility throughout the day.

On the main Kospi market, individuals and institutions were net sellers of 204 billion won ($153 million) and 691 billion won, respectively. Individuals extended their selling streak to four consecutive sessions. Foreigners, by contrast, were net buyers of 370.5 billion won, marking their third straight session of net purchases.

Wall Street closed broadly higher overnight, lifted by strength in AI-related and semiconductor stocks. The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 rose 0.49 percent and 1.31 percent, respectively, on Wednesday (local time). The NASDAQ Composite surged 1.60 percent, while the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index jumped 5.66 percent.

Uncertainty surrounding Nvidia's leadership weighed on the domestic market. The Wall Street Journal reported that Nvidia's board was preparing to remove CEO Huang, sending Nvidia's share price tumbling more than 8 percent in after-hours trading.

Concerns also emerged that Huang's potential departure could disrupt the AI investment ecosystem built around Nvidia. "The domestic market fell alongside Taiwan's semiconductor-heavy bourse amid uncertainty over Nvidia's revolving-credit arrangements," said Lee Sang-heon, a researcher at iM Securities. "But since the market has already priced this in to a considerable degree, the fallout is unlikely to spread much further."

Among large-cap stocks, SK hynix closed down 1.80 percent at 1,254,000 won, while Samsung Electronics finished up 0.97 percent at 208,000 won.

SK Square fell 0.63 percent, LG Energy Solution dropped 1.79 percent, Samsung Electro-Mechanics declined 4.01 percent, and Hyundai Motor shed 2.20 percent.

The Kosdaq also gave up the 700-point threshold, closing down 8.57 points, or 1.22 percent, at 696.53.

The index opened down 1.88 points, or 0.27 percent, at 703.22 and fell as low as 687.40, a decline of 2.51 percent, before paring some losses to finish in the 690 range.

On the Kosdaq market, foreigners led the decline with net selling of 353.4 billion won. Individuals and institutions were net buyers of 307.6 billion won and 43.5 billion won, respectively.

Among Kosdaq large caps, Alteogen fell 3.32 percent, Ecopro dropped 1.50 percent, Ecopro BM declined 2.18 percent, and Jusung Engineering shed 3.59 percent. Simtec, Leeno Industrial and HPSP rose 1.89 percent, 0.96 percent and 0.87 percent, respectively.