KOSPI Returns to 7,000 Mark After 4 Trading Days... Two-Day Continuous Buy Sidecar

The KOSPI rebounded to the 7,000 mark for the first time in four trading days, driven by gains in U.S. semiconductor stocks and foreign institutional buying. The rapid rise triggered a buy-sidecar mechanism, temporarily halting automated buy orders, for two consecutive days. By 9:06 a.m., the KOSPI was up 383.00 points (5.68%) to 7,130.95, surpassing 7,100 immediately after opening. This marks the first recovery to 7,000 since four trading days ago. The buy-sidecar, which halted program buy orders for five minutes, was the 20th such trigger this year and the 40th overall including sell-sidecars. Foreign investors bought 601.8 billion won, institutions added 296.7 billion won, while individuals sold 306.5 billion won. Top market caps surged, with Samsung Electronics up 5.79% to 274,000 won, SK Hynix near 200,000 won, and SK Square, Samsung Electronics, and Samsung Life all rising over 10%. The KOSDAQ also climbed 3.11% to 776.79. The won weakened 1.50 won to 1,481.00 against the dollar. The Korean market's strong performance is attributed to U.S. semiconductor gains, with Micron up 12.17%, AMD 8.11%, Broadcom 2.21%, and NVIDIA 1.97%. The Dow Jones rose 0.74%, S&P 500 0.89%, and Nasdaq 1.29%.