Kospi closes at 5,375 as foreigners post 658.7 billion won in net purchases

Foreign investors flip to buying after early selling

Samsung Electronics up 3.57%, SK hynix up 5.36%

CoreWeave earnings beat, Anthropic IPO expectations lift sentiment

Stock price indexes are displayed at the dealing room of Hana Bank's headquarters in Jung-gu, Seoul, on Wednesday. [Yonhap]
Stock price indexes are displayed at the dealing room of Hana Bank's headquarters in Jung-gu, Seoul, on Wednesday. [Yonhap]

The Kospi surged more than 2% on Wednesday, shrugging off concerns about a potential "big step" — a 50-basis-point rate hike — by the US Federal Reserve.

Large-cap semiconductor stocks led the advance as foreign investors reversed course from early selling to post heavy net purchases. Strong quarterly results from US AI infrastructure company CoreWeave and growing expectations surrounding Anthropic's upcoming initial public offering helped ease concerns about the sustainability of AI investment and lifted market sentiment.

According to Korea Exchange, the Kospi closed at 5,375.36, up 136.23 points, or 2.60%, from Tuesday. The index opened down 29.42 points, or 0.56%, at 5,209.71 and hovered near the flatline before climbing steadily on the back of gains in semiconductor heavyweights. It briefly touched an intraday high of 5,377.99, a gain of 2.65%, late in the session.

The rally was driven by a return of foreign buying. Foreign investors posted net purchases for a second consecutive session, picking up 658.7 billion won ($490 million) on a net basis by the close of the regular session. After starting the day as net sellers, they flipped to buying in the afternoon. Individual and institutional investors were net sellers of 715.6 billion won and 481.6 billion won, respectively.

Buoyed by the gains, the KOSPI 200 Volatility Index — South Korea's equivalent of the fear gauge — fell 9.33% to close at 52.76, extending a steep 8.98% drop from Tuesday.

The advance came despite a weak overnight session on Wall Street. US stocks fell across the board after October consumer price index data came in above market expectations, reinforcing bets on further interest rate increases. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.30%, while the S&P 500 and NASDAQ Composite fell 0.38% and 0.74%, respectively.

US October CPI rose 0.4% from the prior month, while core CPI — which excludes energy and food — climbed 0.3%, both exceeding market forecasts by 0.1 percentage point. The stronger-than-expected inflation data bolstered the case for tighter monetary policy.

Adding to the pressure, Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller had signaled before the CPI release that "if core CPI comes in at around 0.3% or higher, stronger policy action may be needed," raising the prospect of a 50-basis-point rate hike and dampening investor sentiment.

Memory-related stocks had also been under pressure amid concerns that a recently surfaced personal scandal involving Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang could lead to tighter semiconductor regulation. Nvidia fell 5.47% for a second straight session of heavy losses. Micron (-1.1%), SK hynix's American depositary receipts (-3.51%) and SanDisk (-2.99%) also declined. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index edged down 0.35%.

Sentiment shifted, however, after CoreWeave reported its earnings. The cloud computing company posted third-quarter sales of $3.66 billion, a 168% jump from the same period last year and above the market consensus of $3.55 billion.

CoreWeave, which had recently sparked credit concerns, is widely regarded as a bellwether for AI infrastructure investment. Its operating profit came in at $207 million, up 298% year on year. The company's shares surged as much as 7.90% in after-hours trading.

Markets are also watching Anthropic's planned listing on Nov. 19 (local time). The Financial Times reported Tuesday (local time), citing five sources, that underwriters for the Anthropic IPO expect to price shares above the initial range of $70 to $78 per share.

The underwriting syndicate, led by Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, received strong demand signals as it kicked off its roadshow that day.

Against that backdrop, the domestic market opened lower before building upside momentum through the session. Samsung Electronics and SK hynix, both of which started the day in the red, turned higher and extended their gains — finishing up 3.57% and 5.36%, respectively.

Among other large-cap stocks, SK Square (+4.74%), LG Energy Solution (+1.51%) and Samsung Electro-Mechanics (+4.65%) closed higher. Samsung Biologics (-2.59%), Hyundai Motor (-0.91%) and Kia (-1.56%) fell.

The Kosdaq surged 37.49 points, or 5.62%, to close at 705.10, reclaiming the 700 level for the first time in five trading sessions.

The sharp rally triggered a buy-side sidecar — a temporary suspension of program buy orders — on the Kosdaq for a second consecutive session following Tuesday's activation. The index opened up 0.87 points, or 0.13%, at 668.48 before climbing steadily to close at its session high.

Institutional investors led the Kosdaq advance with net purchases of 313.5 billion won. Individual and foreign investors were net sellers of 185.6 billion won and 131.9 billion won, respectively.

Most top Kosdaq stocks by market capitalization posted gains, including Alteogen (+4.08%), Ecopro (+10.09%), Ecopro BM (+11.39%) and Jusung Engineering (+17.14%). HLB (-1.16%), PharmaResearch (-0.60%) and Hugel (-1.91%) were among the decliners.

The won strengthened against the dollar. As of 3:30 p.m. at the Seoul foreign exchange market, the won-dollar rate stood at 1,333.6 won, down 3.9 won from Tuesday's benchmark rate.


th5@heraldcorp.com