SEOUL, November 10 (AJP) — South Korean shares swung up more than 5 percent in early trading Tuesday, reclaiming 5,200 as a Wall Street semiconductor rally propelled Korea’s two chip giants sharply higher. Five-minute buy-side program trading halts were triggered in both the KOSPI and KOSDAQ markets.
The benchmark KOSPI climbed 5.18 percent to 5,278.95 as of 9:24 a.m., recovering sharply from Monday’s close of 5,018.85. It opened 4.55 percent higher at 5,247.22 and briefly reached 5,299.37, approaching the 5,300 mark after barely holding above 5,000 the previous day.
Foreign investors turned buyers after persistent selling since last month, purchasing a net 111.2 billion won of shares and joining institutions in bargain hunting. Retail investors sold a net 277.9 billion won into the rebound. Advancers outnumbered decliners 746 to 118.
The Korea Exchange activated buy-side “sidecars” in both markets shortly after the opening, suspending program buy orders for five minutes to temper sharp price swings.
The rebound followed a broad overnight recovery on Wall Street, where technology bargain hunting and falling oil prices helped revive sentiment after last week’s selloff.
The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index jumped 6.85 percent. Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) surged 13.26 percent, Broadcom gained 8.78 percent and memory-chip maker Micron Technology rose 6.25 percent.
The Nasdaq Composite advanced 2.74 percent, while the S&P 500 gained 2.35 percent and the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 2.15 percent.
Nvidia bucked the rally, falling 4.27 percent amid an investigation into whether Chief Executive Jensen Huang was targeted by a foreign intelligence operation. The inquiry followed reports linking him to a Chinese businesswoman allegedly gathering information for Beijing. Nvidia said it had no reason to believe company secrets or U.S. national security had been compromised. China has rejected the allegations.
In Seoul, the two dominant memory-chip makers led the recovery after heavy selling driven by concerns about the sustainability of artificial intelligence investment.
Samsung Electronics jumped 5.58 percent to 200,500 won, reclaiming the 200,000-won level. SK hynix, a major supplier of high-bandwidth memory used in AI processors, surged 8.27 percent to 1,230,000 won.
LG Energy Solution gained 2.67 percent to 326,500 won as buying extended to battery shares.
The junior KOSDAQ rose 4.44 percent to 667.37 as of 9:24 a.m., recovering from Monday’s close of 638.97.
Institutions bought a net 48.6 billion won of KOSDAQ shares and retail investors added 3.4 billion won. Foreign investors remained sellers in the junior market, unloading a net 46.9 billion won. Advancers overwhelmed decliners 1,466 to 222.
Biotechnology, semiconductor equipment and battery-related shares participated in the rebound.
Alteogen, which develops technology to convert intravenous drugs into injections under the skin, rose 6.65 percent to 179,600 won, recovering some of Monday’s steep losses.
Battery-sector holding company EcoPro gained 5.61 percent to 64,000 won, while battery-materials affiliate EcoPro BM advanced 4.08 percent to 79,000 won.
Semiconductor equipment maker Jusung Engineering surged 8.19 percent to 153,300 won. Rainbow Robotics climbed 4.96 percent to 317,500 won.
The won strengthened to 1,345.2 per dollar from 1,347.1 in the previous session.
The strong opening offered relief from recent selling, although the outlook for U.S. inflation and AI infrastructure spending remains a test for the recovery.
The U.S. October consumer price index is due Tuesday evening in Seoul. AI cloud provider CoreWeave will discuss its third-quarter results after Tuesday’s U.S. market close, giving investors another opportunity to assess demand for computing capacity and the spending supporting the semiconductor boom.
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