The Kospi and exchange rate are displayed on an electronic board at the dealing room of Hana Bank's headquarters in Jung-gu, Seoul, on Wednesday. [Yonhap]
The Kospi and exchange rate are displayed on an electronic board at the dealing room of Hana Bank's headquarters in Jung-gu, Seoul, on Wednesday. [Yonhap]

The Kospi closed sharply higher Wednesday, gaining more than 3%, as Samsung Electronics and SK hynix — the two largest stocks by market cap — rose roughly 2% and 5%, respectively, leading the advance.

The benchmark index finished at 6,598.26, up 239.31 points, or 3.76%, from the previous session. It was the second consecutive day of gains, following a 1.62% rise on Tuesday.

The index opened up 244.53 points, or 3.85%, at 6,603.48 and climbed as high as 6,674.66 before pulling back to close just below the 6,600 level.

Foreign investors drove the day's gains, posting net purchases of 1.45 trillion won ($1.01 billion). Retail and institutional investors were net sellers, offloading 1.18 trillion won and 283.8 billion won worth of shares, respectively.

Samsung Electronics closed at 246,000 won, up 2.5%, while SK hynix ended at 1.67 million won, up 5.77%. The results signaled a revival in investor appetite for semiconductor stocks, which had been losing momentum in recent sessions.

A major catalyst was AI-driven data analytics firm Palantir's overnight announcement that its second-quarter sales surged 93 percent year-on-year to approximately 2.77 trillion won.

The blowout earnings ignited investor enthusiasm, sending Palantir's share price up 29.45 percent overnight and lifting Nvidia (up 2.56 percent), Micron (up 7.62 percent) and Intel (up 10.84 percent) as well.

SK hynix received an additional boost from its American depositary receipts listed on the New York Stock Exchange, which surged 8.17 percent after a series of Wall Street reports recommended investors increase their exposure to the stock.

Most large-cap stocks on the Kospi also closed higher, including SK Square (up 5.57 percent), Samsung Electro-Mechanics (up 14.43 percent) and Hyundai Motor (up 3.06 percent). Samsung Electro-Mechanics surged particularly sharply after reports emerged that it would supply camera modules for Tesla's robotaxi, pushing the stock back above the 1.3 million won mark.

The Kosdaq also advanced, closing up 18.87 points, or 2.42 percent, at 799.59, marking four consecutive sessions of gains. Retail investors were net buyers at 395 billion won, while foreign and institutional investors net sold 298 billion won and 110.8 billion won, respectively.

Alteogen, the Kosdaq's top stock by market cap, closed up 3.75 percent at 277,000 won after the company announced it had signed a license agreement with a global pharmaceutical company worth up to $365 million, giving the share price fresh momentum.

Fiber-optic stocks on the Kosdaq also surged after reports that the US government is drafting legislation to ban imports of certain Chinese-made components used in data centers.

Taihan Fiberoptics closed up 18.57 percent at 12,070 won. Lightron Fiber-optic Devices (up 29.89 percent), RFHIC (up 7.28 percent) and OE Solutions (up 29.84 percent) also posted sharp gains.

Han Ji-young, a researcher at Kiwoom Securities, said the broader market is seeing a recovery in risk appetite spread across sectors, driven in part by easing US-Iran tensions that have brought oil prices and interest rates down from elevated levels. "The fact that earnings from major companies this week — following big-tech results from Amazon, Microsoft and others at the end of July — are helping to dispel concerns about AI demand and profitability is also a positive," Han added.


jiyun@heraldcorp.com