Employees monitor stock markets and exchange rates at Hana Bank's headquarters in Jung-gu, Seoul, on Wednesday. [Yonhap]
Employees monitor stock markets and exchange rates at Hana Bank's headquarters in Jung-gu, Seoul, on Wednesday. [Yonhap]

Kospi was trading in a narrow range Wednesday morning, unable to hold gains despite an overnight rebound in US semiconductor stocks, as selling by foreign and institutional investors capped the upside.

As of 9:29 a.m., Kospi stood at 6,773.08, up 29.33 points, or 0.45 percent, from Tuesday.

The index opened down 15.49 points, or 0.23 percent, at 6,727.25 before turning positive, but has since struggled to find direction, oscillating in a tight range.

On the Kospi market, retail investors were net buyers of 180.3 billion won ($131 million), while foreign and institutional investors were net sellers of 260.8 billion won and 37.8 billion won, respectively.

Overnight on Wall Street, all three major indexes closed higher. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite rose 0.66 percent, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 gained 0.30 percent and 0.32 percent, respectively.

The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index rebounded 1.44 percent, as falling crude oil prices and US government bond yields eased market pressure and drew buyers into technology stocks.

Nvidia climbed 2.19 percent ahead of its earnings release, leading the semiconductor and AI stock recovery — its first positive close in eight trading sessions.

Other major chipmakers also posted strong gains, with AMD up 4.91 percent and Micron rising 2.48 percent.

The domestic market, however, has been unable to keep pace with the US semiconductor rally, weighed down by simultaneous selling from foreign and institutional investors.

Samsung Electronics was up 0.97 percent at 259,500 won, while SK hynix gained 1.13 percent to trade at 1,697,000 won.

Samsung Biologics rose 1.07 percent, Samsung C&T gained 3.68 percent and Samsung Life advanced 5.26 percent. Samsung Electro-Mechanics fell 3.01 percent and LG Energy Solution slipped 0.86 percent.

Han Ji-young, a researcher at Kiwoom Securities, said there are doubts about whether the domestic market's rebound can be sustained, but noted that internal resilience is improving. "One piece of evidence is that on Tuesday, even as foreign investors net sold 3.8 trillion won, retail and institutional buying absorbed the pressure," Han said.

Kosdaq was down 3.26 points, or 0.39 percent, at 823.89 at the same time. The index opened lower by 2.38 points, or 0.29 percent, at 824.77 and has continued to drift in slightly negative territory.

On the Kosdaq market, retail investors were net buyers of 92.6 billion won, providing support at the lower end, while foreign and institutional investors were net sellers of 65.4 billion won and 27.6 billion won, respectively.

Most large-cap Kosdaq stocks were also in the red, with Jusung Engineering down 2.18 percent, Wonik IPS falling 2.80 percent and Rainbow Robotics declining 1.21 percent.


moon@heraldcorp.com