SEOUL, October 27 (AJP) - South Korean stocks surged more than 4 percent on Tuesday as foreign and institutional buying lifted semiconductor shares amid growing optimism over Anthropic's planned U.S. initial public offering (IPO).
The benchmark KOSPI jumped 4.1 percent to 5,689.23 as of around 10:15 a.m. (0115 GMT), after trading between 5,654.51 and 5,707.70.
Foreign investors bought 409.1 billion won (US$309 million) worth of shares, as institutions purchased 228.1 billion won. Retail investors sold 659.1 billion won, taking profits amid the sharp rally.
The gains followed an overnight rebound on Wall Street, as the Nasdaq Composite rose 0.83 percent and the S&P 500 advanced 0.70 percent, supported by renewed optimism over AI related investments.
Investor sentiment improved after Anthropic, the U.S. developer of the Claude AI chatbot, filed for an initial public offering with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday.
The company plans to list on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol ANT, with Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley leading the offering.
Anthropic is expected to seek a valuation of up to $2 trillion and raise as much as $100 billion, according to media reports, although the company has yet to disclose its proposed share price range or offering size.
The filing showed first half revenue at around $16.3 billion, reflecting rapid growth in demand for enterprise AI services and coding tools.
The development helped ease some concerns over AI profitability and the sustainability of massive data center investments, encouraging investors to return to semiconductor stocks.
SK hynix surged 7 percent to 1,363,000 won, while Samsung Electronics jumped 5.1 percent to 223,750 won.
The gains came as investors reassessed the outlook for memory chip demand amid expectations that AI companies would continue expanding computing infrastructure.
Other semiconductor-related stocks joined the rally. SK Square climbed 10.8 percent to 852,000 won, while Hanmi Semiconductor gained 5.5 percent to 194,200 won.
Samsung Electro-Mechanics advanced 8.6 percent to 1,214,000 won, supported by broader gains in semiconductor substrates and electronic components.
Daeduck Electronics rose 9.5 percent to 131,100 won, while printed circuit board maker Simtech surged 14.2 percent to 122,500 won.
Semiconductor substrate shares gained 8.9 percent as a group, while printed circuit board stocks rose 8.6 percent and multilayer ceramic capacitor-related shares advanced 8.5 percent.
The rally also extended to power equipment makers, with LS Electric rising 5.3 percent to 161,000 won, HD Hyundai Electric gaining 4.5 percent to 467,000 won and Hyosung Heavy Industries adding 4.5 percent to 1,937,000 won.
The stock market recovery coincided with stronger-than-expected economic growth in South Korea, driven largely by semiconductor exports and investment.
The country's real gross domestic product expanded 1 percent in the third quarter from the previous three months, accelerating from 0.6 percent growth in the second quarter, according to preliminary data released Tuesday by the Bank of Korea.
The expansion exceeded market expectations of around 0.8 percent and the central bank's earlier projection of 0.3 percent.
The economy grew 3.4 percent from a year earlier, slowing from 3.7 percent in the previous quarter.
Exports increased 2.3 percent from the previous quarter, led by semiconductors, machinery and electrical equipment, while facilities investment jumped 4.1 percent.
However, private consumption fell 0.2 percent, reversing a 0.4 percent gain in the second quarter, highlighting the gap between export-driven growth and sluggish domestic demand.
The figures showed that the semiconductor boom continued to underpin economic expansion, even as the recovery remained uneven across sectors.
Elsewhere on the KOSPI, Samsung E&A rose 4.01 percent to 62,200 won, while Samsung SDI gained 3.6 percent to 501,000 won and LG Energy Solution advanced 1.9 percent to 382,000 won.
By contrast, Samsung Biologics fell 4.1 percent to 1,392,000 won, while HD Hyundai Energy Solutions dropped 9.4 percent to 87,300 won.
The tech-heavy KOSDAQ climbed 4.4 percent to 759.18, after trading between 742.79 and 759.23.
Foreign investors bought 89.1 billion won worth of shares, as institutions followed with 63.9 billion won. Retail investors sold 148.5 billion won.
Semiconductor-related shares led gains on the KOSDAQ. Simtech surged 14.2 percent to 122,500 won, while Jusung Engineering jumped 9.4 percent to 183,400 won.
EcoPro gained 6.9 percent to 74,500 won, extending the rebound across battery-related shares.
Elice, the recently listed AI cloud infrastructure company, climbed 21.2 percent to 92,900 won, continuing its volatile trading following last week's stock market debut.
JYP Entertainment jumped 10.4 percent to 39,750 won, while Bigwave Robotics rose 3.5 percent to 29,950 won.
Taihan Fiberoptics advanced 3.1 percent to 13,790 won.
By contrast, G2G Bio fell 4.5 percent to 43,150 won, while MS Bio slipped 0.7 percent to 10,700 won.
Throughout the in Asia market, Japan's Japan's Nikkei 225 rose 2.1 percent to 63,495.54, as Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index edged up 0.1 percent to 23,235.70. China's Shanghai Composite gained 0.04 percent to 3,699.08.
The South Korean won strengthened 0.2 percent to 1,324.6 won per dollar.
Oil prices fell as renewed diplomatic efforts in the Middle East raised hopes of easing tensions between the United States and Iran.
West Texas Intermediate crude slipped 0.7 percent to $101.08 a barrel, while Brent crude declined 0.7 percent to $115.01.
The declines followed reports that senior officials from Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Türkiye held talks with Iranian officials on Monday in an effort to prevent further military escalation.
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