The Kospi and other market indicators are displayed on a board at Hana Bank's dealing room in Jung-gu, Seoul, on Thursday. The Kospi closed up 299.19 points, or 4.40 percent, at 7,096.89, while the Kosdaq rose 39.19 points, or 5.22 percent, to finish at 790.28. [Yonhap]
The Kospi and other market indicators are displayed on a board at Hana Bank's dealing room in Jung-gu, Seoul, on Thursday. The Kospi closed up 299.19 points, or 4.40 percent, at 7,096.89, while the Kosdaq rose 39.19 points, or 5.22 percent, to finish at 790.28. [Yonhap]

The Kospi reclaimed the 7,000-point level on a closing basis Thursday, for the first time in five sessions since July 15.

According to Korea Exchange, the benchmark index closed up 299.19 points, or 4.40 percent, at 7,096.89.

The index opened 165.65 points, or 2.44 percent, higher at 6,963.35 and extended its gains through the session, touching an intraday high of 7,108.44.

Foreign investors drove the rally, posting net purchases of 2.15 trillion won ($1.45 billion) on the Kospi — their fourth consecutive session of net buying. Institutional investors also net bought 98.6 billion won.

Retail investors were net sellers for a third straight session, offloading a net 2.03 trillion won.

The day's gains were fueled by news that Alphabet raised its capital expenditure guidance. The Google parent said Wednesday local time that it was lifting its full fiscal-year 2026 capital expenditure forecast to between $195 billion and $205 billion, up from a prior range of $180 billion to $190 billion.

The announcement eased concerns about a peak-out in the semiconductor supercycle, lifting investor sentiment. "Alphabet's strong earnings and upward CAPEX guidance revision served to alleviate anxieties surrounding domestic semiconductor stocks — particularly worries about a potential peak-out in the memory chip cycle," said Han Ji-young, a researcher at Kiwoom Securities.

Samsung Electronics closed up 3.65 percent at 270,000 won, while SK Hynix gained 4.86 percent to finish at 1.919 million won.

Foreign investors were the top two net buyers on the Kospi, snapping up 1.32 trillion won worth of SK Hynix shares and 350.4 billion won worth of Samsung Electronics shares.

Among other large-cap stocks, Samsung Electro-Mechanics rose 7.66 percent, Hyundai Motor gained 3.35 percent, and LG Energy Solution surged 8.41 percent.

The Kosdaq closed up 39.19 points, or 5.22 percent, at 790.28.

The index opened up 12.42 points, or 1.65 percent, at 763.51 and widened its gains through the afternoon, when a buy-side sidecar — a circuit breaker that temporarily suspends program trading — was triggered. It was the 14th such activation this year.

On the Kosdaq, foreign investors net bought 133.5 billion won and institutions net bought 60.4 billion won, while retail investors were net sellers of 198.2 billion won.

Among top Kosdaq stocks by market cap, Alteogen surged 14.37 percent, Ecopro BM jumped 9.95 percent, and Ecopro rose 9.34 percent.


moon@heraldcorp.com