Foreign investors net-buy 120 billion won solo

Kospi rebounds 2.87% a day after sharp drop

Samsung Electronics up 4.7%, SK hynix up 6.5%

Wall Street rebound, lower oil prices lift sentiment

The Kospi and other market indexes are displayed on a screen at the Hana Bank dealing room in Jung-gu, Seoul, on Wednesday. [Yonhap]
The Kospi and other market indexes are displayed on a screen at the Hana Bank dealing room in Jung-gu, Seoul, on Wednesday. [Yonhap]

The Kospi reclaimed the 5,700 level Wednesday, a day after tumbling more than 3%, driven by a surge in foreign investor buying.

Foreign investors stepped in as sole net buyers even as institutions and retail investors sold in tandem, with large-cap chipmakers Samsung Electronics and SK hynix leading the index higher. A partial rebound on Wall Street and a drop in international oil prices helped restore investor confidence.

According to Korea Exchange, the Kospi opened up 113.60 points, or 2.05 percent, at 5,666.34 and continued to extend gains. Foreign investors were net-buying 120 billion won ($90.1 million) on their own, while institutions and retail investors were net-selling 40 billion won and 152 billion won, respectively.

The rebound was attributed to bargain hunting following Tuesday's sharp 3.73 percent drop, combined with overnight gains on Wall Street. The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 rose 1.02 percent and 0.28 percent, respectively, while the tech-heavy NASDAQ Composite ended nearly flat, slipping 0.02 percent.

Sentiment also received a partial lift from reports that Iran had met with Pakistani officials to discuss potential mediation proposals with the United States.

Oil prices fell as well. West Texas Intermediate crude for November delivery settled down 1.80 percent at $101.79 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange overnight, while December Brent crude on the London ICE Futures Exchange closed 0.69 percent lower at $108.79 per barrel.

However, memory chip makers and AI-related stocks retreated in the United States. Micron fell 0.98 percent, SK hynix's American depositary receipts dropped 2.16 percent, and SanDisk slipped 0.42 percent, while Nvidia declined 0.29 percent and AMD fell 0.62 percent.

Some analysts pointed to Tuesday's dismal market debut by Elice — an AI data center and neo-cloud company listed on Kosdaq — as a contributing factor in the previous session's selloff. The stock plunged 32 percent on its first trading day, widely seen as a high-profile listing failure for an AI firm.

Amid the mix of factors, the domestic market opened with a rebound led by large-cap semiconductor stocks. Samsung Electronics was up about 4.7 percent and SK hynix was advancing around 6.5 percent.

Among other top market-cap stocks, SK Square gained 4.18 percent, LG Energy Solution edged up 0.12 percent, Samsung Electro-Mechanics rose 2.16 percent and Samsung Biologics advanced 1.73 percent. Hyundai Motor and KB Financial Group were slightly lower, down 0.16 percent and 0.50 percent, respectively.

LIG Defense & Aerospace tumbled 11 percent after it emerged that the Defense Acquisition Program Administration had barred the company from bidding on government contracts for two years. The sanction, handed down Tuesday, followed charges that the company paid hundreds of millions of won in bribes to DAPA officials during past weapons development procurement processes.

Kosdaq also advanced. The index opened up 11.43 points, or 1.46 percent, at 793.40. Foreign investors and retail investors were net-selling 17 billion won and 3 billion won, respectively, while institutions were net-buying 25 billion won.

Most top market-cap stocks on Kosdaq were in positive territory, with Alteogen up 4.55 percent, Ecopro gaining 3.00 percent, Ecopro BM rising 4.85 percent, Jusung Engineering advancing 4.75 percent and Rainbow Robotics up 0.27 percent. Elice, which made its disastrous debut Tuesday, was trading at the daily upper limit.


th5@heraldcorp.com