The KOSPI closed higher, buoyed by significant net buying from foreign investors. The index surged over 5% in early trading, briefly surpassing the 7100 mark, but most of the gains were surrendered in the afternoon.
On July 22, the Korea Exchange reported that the KOSPI finished at 6797.70, up 49.75 points (0.74%) from the previous trading day. After initially exceeding 7100, the index quickly lost momentum in the afternoon, closing below 6800.
Foreign investors net bought 2.62 trillion won, supporting the index, while individual and institutional investors sold 1.22 trillion won and 1.39 trillion won, respectively.
The KOSPI's sharp rise triggered a 'buy sidecar' at 9:06 a.m., temporarily halting program buy orders. This occurred as KOSPI200 futures prices remained over 5% higher than the benchmark for one minute, marking the 20th instance of such an event this year.
Investor sentiment rebounded quickly in the morning, driven by a strong performance in U.S. semiconductor stocks. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index surged 5.21%, with major companies like Micron, SanDisk, and Intel seeing significant gains, which attracted bargain hunters to domestic semiconductor stocks.
However, as the afternoon progressed, selling pressure from institutions and financial investors increased, coupled with rising caution ahead of Alphabet's earnings report, leading to a reduction in gains.
Lee Kyung-min, a researcher at Daishin Securities, noted, “The domestic market opened with a gap up due to bargain hunting in the semiconductor sector, but concerns ahead of Alphabet's earnings report and rising international oil prices led to a reduction in intraday gains.”
Among the top market capitalization stocks, results were mixed. Samsung Electronics closed at 260,500 won, up 0.58%. SK Hynix, which briefly recovered to 2 million won during the day, surrendered its gains and finished down 0.33% at 1,830,000 won.
Hyundai Motor rose 4.76%, while Samsung Electro-Mechanics (2.67%), Samsung Electronics Preferred (2.27%), Samsung Life Insurance (1.27%), and LG Energy Solution (1.26%) also gained. Conversely, SK Square (-1.84%) and Samsung Biologics (-1.65%) saw declines.
The KOSDAQ turned lower, closing at 751.09, down 2.25 points (0.30%) from the previous day. Individuals net bought 263.7 billion won, while foreign and institutional investors sold 81.8 billion won and 191.2 billion won, respectively.
Among the top KOSDAQ stocks, Rainbow Robotics surged 16.28%, while EcoPro (2.53%), Rino Industry (2.57%), and EcoPro BM (1.51%) also rose. In contrast, Peptron (-7.82%), Juseong Engineering (-4.26%), and Wonik IPS (-3.79%) faced declines.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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