SEOUL, June 25 (AJP) — The KOSPI moved to the brink of reclaiming the 9,000-point milestone amid a tense market rivalry between the country's two chip heavyweights, while the junior KOSDAQ sank further as bets narrowed on chip infrastructure.
The benchmark KOSPI closed up 5.42 percent at 8,930.30 after briefly climbing above the 9,000-point threshold during afternoon trading.
Trading was volatile throughout the session. A buy-side sidecar was triggered shortly after the open amid a rush into chip stocks after overnight results from Micron Technology reinforced expectations that the AI boom would last well through next year.
Samsung Electronics climbed 5.29 percent to close at 358,500 won, while SK hynix surged 13.06 percent to 2,917,000 won to reclaim the No. 1 market capitalization title after losing it for just one day.
Shares tied to the two chipmakers also rallied sharply, with SK Square rising 5.56 percent to 1,899,000 won, Samsung C&T gaining 7.79 percent to 519,000 won, Samsung Life Insurance adding 3.23 percent to 447,000 won and Samsung Electronics preferred shares surging 10.07 percent to 235,000 won. Samsung Electro-Mechanics also gained 1.68 percent to 1,997,000 won.
Samsung Biologics ended little changed, edging up 0.07 percent to 1,386,000 won, while Kia rose 0.43 percent to 139,500 won.
Much of the non-semiconductor blue chips remained subdued.
Hyundai Motor fell 1.18 percent to 503,000 won, LG Energy Solution dropped 3.69 percent to 352,000 won, HD Hyundai Heavy Industries slipped 0.85 percent to 582,000 won and Hanwha Aerospace declined 2.29 percent to 1,069,000 won.
Institutional investors remained the dominant buyers, purchasing a net 4.24 trillion won ($2.75 billion) worth of KOSPI shares. Retail investors sold a net 3.45 trillion won, while foreign investors offloaded a net 773.6 billion won.
The semiconductor-led surge came at the expense of the secondary market, where the tech-heavy KOSDAQ fell 2.46 percent to 887.81, slipping back below the 900-point mark.
Among KOSDAQ heavyweights, Alteogen edged up 0.94 percent to close at 375,000 won, while battery materials makers EcoPro BM and EcoPro tumbled 5.57 percent to 144,000 won and 5.29 percent to 102,000 won, respectively. Among semiconductor equipment makers, Jusung Engineering plunged 8.50 percent to 166,900 won, although Wonik IPS and Reno Industrial gained 2.72 percent to 154,700 won and 4.11 percent to 88,700 won, respectively.
The Korean won weakened slightly against the U.S. dollar, trading at 1,544.7 won per dollar, down 2 won from the previous session.
The session underscored the market's growing divide, with semiconductor winners continuing to outpace the broader market.
Japan's Nikkei 225 jumped 4.61 percent to 72,366.34, extending gains alongside the global chip rally. China's Shanghai Composite rose 0.23 percent to 4,120.28, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index declined 1.61 percent to 23,035.63.
Copyright ⓒ Aju Press All rights reserved.