The Kospi surged more than 2 percent on Friday, extending its winning streak to five consecutive sessions and briefly crossing the 7,000 mark during trading. The benchmark index climbed more than 10 percent this week, driven by easing US inflation pressures, continued strength in semiconductor stocks and heavy foreign buying.
The Kospi closed up 164.60 points, or 2.42 percent, at 6,977.94. Compared with Monday's closing level of 6,299.66 — the first trading day of the week — the index gained 678.28 points, or 10.77 percent, over five sessions. The index opened at 6,995.67 and climbed as high as 7,010.86 in early trading before giving back some of its gains, still finishing well above the 6,900 level.
Foreign investors were the driving force behind this week's rally. They net bought a total of 6.57 trillion won ($4.65 billion) on the Kospi this week, posting four consecutive sessions of net buying from Tuesday through Friday — excluding Monday — and propelling the index's five-day winning streak. Retail investors, by contrast, net sold 7.86 trillion won over the same period, pulling back from the market.
Overnight gains on Wall Street also lent support to the domestic market. US producer price index growth came in softer than expected, fueling expectations for a benchmark interest rate cut and lifting all three major New York stock indexes.
Semiconductor stocks were particularly strong after SanDisk laid out a medium-to-long-term growth outlook. Micron and SK Hynix's American depositary receipts also rose, extending the buying momentum into domestic chip names. "SanDisk's projection of mid-to-high teens annual sales growth between 2028 and 2030 is helping dispel the negative narrative around semiconductor stocks," said Han Ji-young, a researcher at Kiwoom Securities.
Among large-cap stocks, Samsung Electronics closed up 2.43 percent at 274,500 won, while SK Hynix gained 3.26 percent to finish at 1.645 million won. Samsung Electronics preferred shares rose 4.15 percent. SK Square and Samsung Electro-Mechanics advanced 3.31 percent and 3.66 percent, respectively. Hyundai Motor posted the biggest gain among large caps, surging 8.24 percent. LG Energy Solution and Samsung C&T each rose about 1.1 percent. Samsung Biologics fell 1.02 percent and Hanwha Aerospace dropped 2.11 percent.
The Kosdaq also extended its winning streak to five consecutive sessions, closing up 3.28 points, or 0.38 percent, at 864.65. The index opened at 868.07 and reached as high as 879.29 during trading before trimming its gains. Retail investors net bought 315.3 billion won on the Kosdaq, while institutions and foreigners net sold 253.1 billion won and 67.4 billion won, respectively.
Like the Kospi, the Kosdaq rose for five straight sessions from Monday through Friday. However, unlike the Kospi — which surged more than 10 percent on the week on the back of massive foreign buying — the Kosdaq gave back a significant portion of its intraday gains on Friday and ended the week with a comparatively modest advance.
kacew@heraldcorp.com
