The KOSPI rose 1.9 percent to 4,089.25, while the small-cap KOSDAQ gained 0.5 percent to 902.67.
Semiconductor stocks led the advance. Samsung Electronics rose 3.5 percent to 100,600 won ($69), and SK hynix jumped 8.2 percent to 606,000 won as investors welcomed their domestic investment commitments totaling 833 trillion won ($571 billion). Samsung pledged 450 trillion won in spending and 60,000 new hires over five years, while SK confirmed 128 trillion won in domestic investment. The Yongin semiconductor cluster alone may grow to 600 trillion won, with at least 14,000 to 20,000 jobs expected by 2029.
Hyundai Motor Group announced 125 trillion won in local investments through 2030 and plans to hire 10,000 workers next year. LG Group laid out a 100 trillion won investment roadmap, while Hanwha said it would spend 11 trillion won in shipbuilding and defense. HD Hyundai and Celltrion plan to invest 15 trillion won and 4 trillion won, respectively.
Food stocks also posted strong rallies. Samyang Foods gained 4.9 percent to 1,385,000 won, while Nongshim surged 9.4 percent to 462,000 won. Samyang said its third-quarter operating profit climbed 50 percent on-year to 131 billion won, with sales up 44 percent to 632 billion won on robust exports to the United States and China. IBK Investment & Securities raised its target price to 1.75 million won, and Yuanta Securities set it at 2 million won.
Nongshim reported third-quarter revenue of 871.2 billion won, up 2.4 percent, while operating profit rose 44.7 percent to 54.4 billion won, driven by overseas demand. Revenue from foreign subsidiaries increased 14.4 percent to 266.1 billion won, offsetting a slight domestic decline. Analysts noted that references to Nongshim-like snacks and noodles in the new K-pop film K-Pop Demon Hunters further lifted investor sentiment.
Brokerages raised their targets across the board: NH Investment & Securities to 560,000 won, Korea Investment & Securities to 600,000 won, Shinhan to 570,000 won, Samsung Securities to 509,000 won and Daishin to 520,000 won. NH analyst Joo Young-hoon highlighted double-digit revenue growth in China, Japan and Australia, adding that improving U.S. sales may support a fourth-quarter rebound.
Elsewhere in Asia, the Nikkei 225 slipped 0.1 percent to 50,323.91. Shares tied to tourism and Chinese consumer spending fell sharply as tensions between China and Japan escalated. Shiseido plunged as much as 11 percent intraday, while Pan Pacific International Holdings — operator of Don Quijote stores — dropped nearly 10 percent, according to Bloomberg.
Daishin Securities analysts Moon Nam-jung and Moon Gun-woo said Chinese travelers accounted for more than 21 percent of Japan’s foreign tourism spending last year, warning that continued tensions could weigh on sentiment toward Japan’s economy and equity market.
Concerns about tariff-driven inflation and fading expectations of a near-term U.S. rate cut also pressured Tokyo shares. As of Sunday U.S. time, CME FedWatch data showed traders pricing in a 55.6 percent chance the Federal Reserve will hold rates steady in December, compared with a 44.4 percent chance of a cut — a sharp shift from last month, when markets assigned a 90 percent probability to a cut.
Shanghai’s benchmark index fell 0.5 percent to 3,972.03, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index declined 0.8 percent to 26,354.42. As in Japan, Chinese shares were weighed down by rising friction between Beijing and Tokyo, with analysts adding that the pullback also reflects profit-taking after Chinese stocks gained nearly 20 percent earlier this year.
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