SEOUL, August 13 (AJP) - South Korean stocks surged Thursday morning, with the benchmark KOSPI jumping more than 4 percent above the 6,800 mark as foreign investors piled into semiconductor heavyweights, extending a rapid rebound from last month's market rout.
The KOSPI stood at 6,847.66 as of 10:30 a.m., up 4.1 percent from the previous session. The index climbed as high as 6,895.63 after touching a low of 6,773.92, leaving an intraday trading range of 121.71 points.
Foreign investors were firmly on the buying side, purchasing a net 1.37 trillion won ($969 million) of KOSPI shares, while institutions added a net 345.2 billion won. Individuals moved sharply in the opposite direction, unloading a net 1.69 trillion won, or about $1.19 billion.
That divergence underscored the character of Thursday's rally: overseas and institutional money was returning aggressively to the large-cap technology names that drove the market's earlier boom, while retail investors continued to use the rebound to reduce exposure after weeks of extreme volatility.
The latest level puts the KOSPI roughly 30 percent above its July 29 intraday low of 5,262.77, comfortably clearing the 20-percent gain from a recent low commonly used to define a technical bull market. The rebound follows a brutal July selloff that marked the KOSPI's largest monthly decline since the 2008 global financial crisis.
Semiconductors subdued throughout this month returned to the spotlight.
SK hynix jumped 7.3 percent to 1,613,000 won, while Samsung Electronics gained 5.1 percent to 268,750 won. Samsung Electro-Mechanics surged 13 percent to 1,508,000 won, extending the rally beyond memory producers into the broader electronics supply chain.
The move followed a strong session for U.S. artificial-intelligence infrastructure stocks overnight. AI cloud provider CoreWeave and server maker Super Micro Computer each climbed about 19 percent, while memory chipmaker Micron Technology gained about 5 percent, reinforcing expectations that spending on AI computing infrastructure remains intact. The Nasdaq Composite rose 0.5 percent.
Other KOSPI stocks joined the advance. Samwha Capacitor soared 21.7 percent to 107,100 won, while semiconductor equipment maker Mirae Industry climbed 16.7 percent to 9,990 won.
Naver rose 5.1 percent to 226,500 won, Kolmar Korea gained 3.2 percent to 136,700 won, and Kumho Engineering & Construction advanced 2.4 percent to 15,290 won. Daewon Cable bucked the broader rally, falling 3.1 percent to 15,530 won.
Electronic equipment and device stocks were the strongest industry group, rising 10.2 percent, while the semiconductor and semiconductor equipment category advanced 5.9 percent, showing that buying was spreading from the two dominant memory names into smaller suppliers and component makers.
The rally comes as concerns over the durability of global AI investment have begun to ease. Those concerns were a major force behind the sharp decline in Korean technology shares in July, when leveraged positions were rapidly unwound and Samsung Electronics and SK hynix accounted for much of the KOSPI's lost market capitalization.
Retail participation, however, has yet to show the same recovery.
Investor deposits at domestic securities firms stood at 97.93 trillion won as of Aug. 11, slipping below 100 trillion won after investors withdrew cash during the market downturn. The broader migration toward overseas assets had already accelerated in July, when Korean retail investors bought a net $4.6 billion of U.S. equities, according to Korea Securities Depository data.
KOSDAQ rises 1.2%, but foreign investors remain sellers
The smaller-cap KOSDAQ was up 1.2 percent at 867.99 at 10:30 a.m., lagging the KOSPI's semiconductor-heavy rally.
The index reached an intraday high of 870.96 after falling as low as 853.09, a range of 17.87 points.
Unlike on the main board, retail investors supplied the buying power. Individuals purchased a net 165.7 billion won ($117 million) of KOSDAQ shares, while foreign investors sold a net 88.3 billion won and institutions shed 71.1 billion won.
The contrast with the KOSPI was notable: foreign money was concentrating in Korea's largest semiconductor and technology companies rather than moving uniformly into riskier smaller-cap shares.
Still, pockets of the KOSDAQ posted steep gains.
Jeju Semiconductor rose 4 percent to 90,500 won, while semiconductor back-end processing company Winpac surged 23.9 percent to 2,300 won and semiconductor test-interface maker TFE jumped 14.6 percent to 39,600 won.
Electronic component names were also among the strongest performers. EV Advanced Material climbed 21.5 percent to 875 won, while LK Samyang surged 19.9 percent to 1,298 won.
Venture-capital shares emerged as another major theme, with the sector gaining 7.9 percent. Aju IB Investment hit a 29.9 percent gain at 4,585 won, SV Investment jumped 16.3 percent to 2,495 won, and Mirae Asset Venture Investment advanced 13.2 percent to 18,355 won.
The strength in venture-capital, semiconductor equipment and electronic component shares indicated that the morning rally was beginning to broaden beyond the headline memory-chip names, although the weaker foreign flow on the KOSDAQ showed that the expansion remained uneven.
Won strengthens as oil retreats
The Korean won strengthened 0.3 percent to 1,415.1 won per dollar, adding to the risk-on tone in Seoul.
Oil prices, meanwhile, pulled back after six consecutive sessions of gains. West Texas Intermediate crude fell 1.4 percent to $82.10 a barrel, while Brent crude declined 1.3 percent to $87.81.
Oil was pressured by a massive increase in U.S. inventories. Commercial crude stocks rose by 17.4 million barrels in the week ended Aug. 7, the largest weekly increase since January 2023, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
Middle East risks nevertheless remained elevated. U.S.-Iran negotiations remained stalled, while U.S. President Donald Trump said Washington had "total control" of the Strait of Hormuz. The International Energy Agency has also warned that disruptions linked to the conflict continue to constrain global supply.
Korea leads broader Asian advance
The rally extended across much of Asia, though Korea clearly outperformed.
Japan's Nikkei 225 rose 1.6 percent to 68,613.56, while China's Shanghai Composite gained 0.5 percent to 3,965.44. Hong Kong moved in the opposite direction, with the Hang Seng Index down 0.1 percent at 25,407.8.
Regional equities were supported by overnight U.S. inflation data that eased fears of another Federal Reserve rate increase in September, alongside renewed strength in AI-related technology shares. Reuters reported that the broader MSCI Asia-Pacific index excluding Japan was also higher Thursday morning.
AJP Takeaway:
·South Korea's KOSPI surged 4.1 percent to 6,847.66 at 10:30 a.m. on Aug. 13, led by 1.37 trillion won of net foreign buying and sharp gains in semiconductor shares.
·SK hynix rose 7.3 percent and Samsung Electronics gained 5.1 percent, helping lift the KOSPI roughly 22 percent from its July 30 close and into technical bull-market territory.
·Retail investors sold a net 1.69 trillion won of KOSPI shares, showing that the rebound remains foreign- and institution-led despite the index's rapid recovery.
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