The Kospi climbed above the 7,000 mark on Friday, extending its winning streak to five consecutive sessions on the back of strong foreign buying.
Investor sentiment improved markedly as easing US producer price inflation reduced fears of further interest rate hikes, while Wall Street hit an all-time high and semiconductor shares rallied.
According to Korea Exchange, the Kospi opened up 182.33 points, or 2.68 percent, at 6,995.67 and briefly touched 7,010.86 — a gain of 2.90 percent — in early trading, reclaiming the 7,000 level for the first time in 15 sessions.
Foreign investors drove the advance, posting net purchases of 434.3 billion won ($307 million) on the day. Institutions were net sellers of 295.2 billion won, while retail investors sold a net 121.6 billion won.
The recovery was fueled by overnight developments in the United States, where data showed producer price inflation slowing, further diminishing the likelihood of additional benchmark interest rate hikes and boosting appetite for riskier assets.
The US Producer Price Index for July came in flat month-on-month — below the market consensus of a 0.2 percent rise — while the year-on-year gain eased to 4.7 percent from 5.5 percent the previous month.
In response, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.13 percent and the NASDAQ Composite gained 0.81 percent. The S&P 500 advanced 0.65 percent to close at an all-time high.
Among semiconductor names, Micron rose 4.23 percent and SanDisk surged 13.67 percent, while SK Hynix's American depositary receipts jumped 7.29 percent.
In commodity markets, Brent crude for October delivery settled at $87.07 per barrel, down 2.15 percent, while West Texas Intermediate for September delivery fell 2.43 percent to $81.25 per barrel. The yield on the 10-year US Treasury note declined about 5 basis points to 4.64 percent.
Domestic semiconductor shares rode the tailwind from the United States, with Samsung Electronics up more than 1 percent and SK Hynix gaining more than 5 percent. Among other large-cap stocks, SK Square, Samsung Electro-Mechanics, Hyundai Motor and Samsung Life were also trading higher. Samsung Biologics and Hanwha Aerospace edged down.
The Kosdaq also advanced, opening up 6.70 points, or 0.78 percent, at 868.07 — its fifth consecutive session of gains. Foreign investors were the sole net buyers, purchasing a net 7.4 billion won, while individuals and institutions each posted net selling of around 4.5 billion won.
Alteogen, the Kosdaq's top stock by market cap, rose alongside second- and third-ranked Ecopro and Ecopro BM. Rainbow Robotics and Jusung Engineering also moved higher. Wonik IPS, however, fell, while Leeno Industrial was nearly flat.
th5@heraldcorp.com
