KOSPI Extends Rally to 4th Day as Foreigners Buy 2 Trillion Won in Shares

South Korea's KOSPI (Korea Composite Stock Price Index) closed higher for a fourth straight session, led by large-cap semiconductor stocks including Samsung Electronics (005930.KS) and SK hynix (000660.KS), along with chip materials, parts and equipment shares. Foreign investors extended their net buying, purchasing more than 2 trillion won ($1.4 billion) in local stocks.

The KOSPI ended at 6,813.34, up 234.30 points, or 3.56%, from the previous session, the Korea Exchange said on the 13th. It was the first close above 6,800 in 15 trading sessions, since the index finished at 7,096.89 on the 23rd of last month. The index opened at 6,795.88, up 3.30% from the prior close, then quickly reclaimed the 6,800 level and jumped as high as 6,895 during the session, briefly testing a return to the 7,000 mark.

Semiconductor stocks such as Samsung Electronics and SK hynix drove the gains. Samsung Electronics closed at 268,000 won, up 4.89%, while SK hynix rose 5.92% to 1.593 million won. Samsung Electro-Mechanics, which global investment bank Morgan Stanley named a top pick, climbed 12.58%. SK Square (up 9.08%), Mirae Industry (up 19.37%) and DB HiTek (up 4.84%) also finished strong.

Chip materials and equipment stocks also stood out on the KOSDAQ, which ended slightly higher. The KOSDAQ closed at 861.37, up 2.46 points, or 0.29%, from the previous session. Onepack, a KOSDAQ-listed company specializing in semiconductor back-end processing, hit its daily upper limit with a 29.92% surge, the biggest gain among chip stocks. Encitron (up 17.76%), TFE (up 11.24%), Wonik IPS (up 7.62%) and Isu Petasys (up 7.44%) also closed higher.

Foreign investors were again the driving force behind the day's gains. In the KOSPI market, retail investors sold a net 2.72 trillion won, while foreign investors and institutions bought a net 2.1 trillion won and 680 billion won, respectively. When the KOSPI rose 3.68% the previous day, foreigners had also purchased more than 3.4 trillion won in shares.

Analysts said the semiconductor rally was supported by a favorable environment after U.S. inflation data came in line with consensus estimates. "Following CoreWeave and Super Micro, Nebius's earnings also confirmed solid demand for artificial intelligence infrastructure," said Lee Kyung-min, an analyst at Daishin Securities. "Micron, SanDisk and Nvidia were broadly strong in U.S. markets the previous day, and the momentum in U.S. chip stocks spread to the domestic semiconductor sector, strengthening investor sentiment."