Kospi Reverses From 5,500 Peak as SK Hynix Slides

South Korea’s benchmark Kospi index gave up an early rally of more than 2% on Friday to close lower, as chip heavyweight SK hynix slid more than 3% and foreign investors sold heavily, the Seoul Economic Daily reported. The index ended the session at 5,290.53, down 0.98%, after briefly climbing back above the 5,500 mark in the morning.

Early rally fades

The Kospi opened 109.68 points, or 2.05%, higher at 5,452.41, Yonhap-sourced reporting in Korea JoongAng Daily showed, despite losses on Wall Street overnight, where the Dow Jones, S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite each fell less than 0.4%.

According to FinanceFeeds, the index reached an intraday high of 5,504.44 before turning negative at around 12:35 p.m. local time. It finished 52.20 points below Thursday’s close of 5,342.73, and 213.91 points under the day’s peak.

Foreign investors were net sellers of 703.4 billion won on the main board and institutions sold a net 22.1 billion won, while retail investors were net buyers of 180.2 billion won, the Seoul Economic Daily said.

Chipmakers lead losses

SK hynix closed down 3.03% at 1.216 million won and Samsung Electronics fell 0.96% to 206,000 won, reversing morning gains in both stocks. SK Square dropped 3.67%, Samsung Electro-Mechanics lost 3.50%, Samsung Biologics fell 2.62% and LG Energy Solution slipped 1.52%.

Financial and auto shares bucked the trend. KB Financial Group jumped 4.74%, Samsung Electronics preferred shares rose 1.31% and Hyundai Motor gained 1.13%.

The swings followed the leadership change at Nvidia, where chief financial officer Colette Kress was named interim chief executive after Jensen Huang’s departure. Nvidia shares fell more than 14% at one point on Thursday before closing 4.34% lower at US$166.19, and its market value dipped below US$4 trillion during the session, the Seoul Economic Daily reported. Analysts cited by the newspaper said the early rise in Korean chip stocks reflected a view that the change would not dampen AI investment.

FinanceFeeds said market reports also linked the retreat to concerns that the US could tighten chip export curbs on China, but noted this reflected sentiment rather than an established cause.

Lee backs capital market reform

The decline came on the same day President Lee Jae-myung chaired a capital market policy meeting at the Korea Exchange in Yeouido, Seoul. Lee said overcoming what he called abnormality in the market was his government’s “top priority”, according to the Seoul Economic Daily.

The tech-heavy Kosdaq ended 0.45% higher at 699.66, though it slipped back below 700 after trading above 720 earlier. Institutions bought a net 127.1 billion won of Kosdaq shares, while retail and foreign investors were net sellers.

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