The Kospi and other market data are displayed on a screen at Hana Bank's dealing room in Jung-gu, Seoul, on Tuesday, as the index opened higher and swiftly reclaimed the 7,000 level. [Yonhap]
The Kospi and other market data are displayed on a screen at Hana Bank's dealing room in Jung-gu, Seoul, on Tuesday, as the index opened higher and swiftly reclaimed the 7,000 level. [Yonhap]

The Kospi reclaimed the 7,000 mark for the first time in 17 trading sessions Tuesday, with Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix leading the advance. Overnight strength in US semiconductor stocks lifted sentiment despite a raft of external headwinds, including rising US-Iran tensions, higher crude oil prices and climbing US government bond yields.

According to Korea Exchange, the Kospi was trading up 149.00 points, or 2.14 percent, at 7,126.94 as of 9:08 a.m. The index opened 149.83 points, or 2.15 percent, higher at 7,127.77.

The last time the Kospi began a session above 7,000 was July 24, when it opened at 7,000.78 but closed at 6,690.62, failing to hold the level. The index subsequently slid as low as 5,663.24 on July 29 before recovering its losses this month to climb back above 7,000.

Foreign investors drove the advance, posting net purchases of 484.7 billion won ($343 million) on the main board. Retail and institutional investors were net sellers of 429.7 billion won and 34.4 billion won, respectively.

All three major US indexes fell overnight, but semiconductor shares bucked the trend. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.51 percent, the S&P 500 fell 0.52 percent and NASDAQ declined 0.32 percent on Monday. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index, however, rose 1.64 percent.

The broader US market retreat reflected renewed US-Iran tensions that pushed up both crude oil prices and market interest rates. October-delivery Brent crude settled up 2.65 percent at $90.87 per barrel, while September-delivery West Texas Intermediate rose 2.55 percent to $84.50. The yield on the 30-year US government bond soared to 5.31 percent, its highest level since 2007.

Buying flowed into semiconductor stocks on AI-related news, lifting the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index. A key catalyst was a report that Nvidia plans to invest up to $10.5 billion to build a large-scale data center in Ohio for OpenAI to lease. American depositary receipts of SK Hynix also gained 3.04 percent.

Domestically, large-cap semiconductor stocks are leading the Kospi higher. Samsung Electronics was up 8,750 won, or 3.19 percent, at 283,250 won, while SK Hynix surged 96,000 won, or 5.84 percent, to 1.741 million won.

SK Square gained 5.46 percent, Samsung Life rose 2.66 percent, Samsung C&T added 1.76 percent and Samsung Electro-Mechanics edged up 0.71 percent. On the downside, Hyundai Motor slipped 0.22 percent, LG Energy Solution fell 2.30 percent and Samsung Biologics declined 1.36 percent.

The Kosdaq moved in the opposite direction. As of the same time, the index was down 11.83 points, or 1.37 percent, at 852.82, having reversed an early gain after opening up 1.94 points, or 0.22 percent, at 866.59.

On the Kosdaq, retail investors were net buyers of 70.8 billion won, while institutional and foreign investors were net sellers of 37.6 billion won and 29.2 billion won, respectively.

Among top Kosdaq stocks by market capitalization, Alteogen fell 2.55 percent, Ecopro dropped 2.78 percent, Ecopro BM lost 3.43 percent, Leeno Industrial slid 3.67 percent and ABL Bio declined 3.33 percent. On the positive side, Jusung Engineering climbed 5.34 percent, EO Technics rose 5.07 percent, Wonik IPS gained 1.54 percent, Rainbow Robotics edged up 0.20 percent and HLB added 0.12 percent.

Market analysts said the Kospi could attempt to consolidate above 7,000 if foreign buying continues and semiconductor stocks maintain their momentum.

Han Ji-young, a researcher at Kiwoom Securities, said foreign investors have stopped net selling and begun reversing course while a broader recovery spreads across multiple sectors, suggesting the market's underlying health is improving. "If the robustness of this month's exports is reconfirmed, the domestic stock market is expected to work through profit-taking during the week and attempt to settle above 7,000, centered on semiconductors, which only recently joined the rebound," Han said.


hajun825@heraldcorp.com