KOSPI 5 TRILLION !
The KOSPI index continued its record-breaking streak, surpassing 3,600 just one trading day after reaching the 3,500 mark, despite facing headwinds from a surge in the won-dollar exchange rate and tariff issues during the Chuseok holiday period, leveraging the semiconductor boom.
According to the Korea Exchange on Oct. 10, the KOSPI index closed at 3,610.60, up 61.39 points (1.73%) from the previous trading day. The rise was primarily led by semiconductor giants Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, which received strong upward pressure due to AI-related tailwinds from the United States. Samsung Electronics, highlighted as the biggest beneficiary of supplying high bandwidth memory (HBM) to AMD, recorded an all-time high closing price of 94,400 won, up 6.07% from the previous trading day. SK Hynix also made history, jumping 8.22% to 428,000 won, with its market capitalization reaching 311.5850 trillion won, surpassing 300 trillion won for the first time.
The market continues to express favorable outlooks. On this day, global investment bank Morgan Stanley raised its target price for Samsung Electronics by 14% to 111,000 won. Nomura Securities also recently increased its target price for Samsung Electronics to 123,000 won. Korea Investment & Securities presented a target price of 560,000 won for SK Hynix on Oct. 2, a 36% increase from its previous estimate.
Foreign investors net purchased 602.1 billion won worth of Samsung Electronics shares on this day, accumulating a total of 2.8507 trillion won over the past three trading days. In the domestic stock market, foreigners bought 1.0614 trillion won on this day alone, resulting in a net purchase of 5.0447 trillion won in just three trading days this month. Individual investors, while selling 501.9 billion won worth of shares in the KOSPI market, net purchased 242.3 billion won worth of SK Hynix shares.
Stock prices of small and medium-sized semiconductor companies also closed higher across the board. Most semiconductor companies saw sharp increases, including Hanmi Semiconductor (042700) (18.89%), MK Electronics (033160) (13.75%), PSK Holdings (031980) (11.11%), and Wonik (336570) (10.25%). Lee Jin-woo, head of Meritz Securities Center, stated, “While the rate of increase may become more gradual, it’s difficult to predict a change in the semiconductor-led market trend,” and advised, “Considering the burden of rapid increases, we recommend a strategy of gradual, divided purchases.” Kim Hak-kyun, head of Shinyang Securities Research Center, emphasized, “The domestic stock market itself has shifted to being led by semiconductor stocks.”
Not all sectors saw gains. In particular, the automotive and steel industries, which were directly hit by tariff impositions, underperformed. According to the exchange, the KRX Steel and KRX Automobile indices fell by 1.19% and 1.14% respectively from the previous trading day. Investor sentiment worsened after the European Union (EU) announced plans on Oct. 7 (local time) to reduce duty-free quotas for steel products and increase tariffs on certain items (from 25% to 50%).
Source: Korea
credit photo: Daniel Bernard