Stock Market Rebounds as Semiconductor Stocks Rally; KOSPI Recovers 7,000 Level

[Anchor]

The KOSPI, which fell to the 6,800 level on Monday, surged more than 6% today (July 15) to recover the 7,000 mark. The recovery in semiconductor investment sentiment has largely washed away the shock of "Black Monday."

First, here is reporter Choi Seung-hun.

[Reporter]

The KOSPI showed strength from the very beginning, with a sidecar for buying triggered just six minutes after the market opened.

The buying momentum remained strong throughout the afternoon, closing at 7,284, up 6.2%.

Market cap leaders Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, which had been suffering from concerns over a peak in the semiconductor cycle, led the index.

SK Hynix surged 8.8% today to surpass the 2 million won mark again, and Samsung Electronics also rose 6.2%.

Foreign investors net bought over 2.3 trillion won, while individual investors sold more than 2.4 trillion won.

The starting point of the surge was the U.S. market overnight.

British investment bank Barclays stated that the shortage of memory semiconductors would continue for several years and set a target price of $330 for SK Hynix ADRs.

As optimism for semiconductors revived, SK Hynix ADRs skyrocketed by 27%.

[Interview: Choi Jae-won / Professor of Economics, Seoul National University : The advantage of ADRs is that they play a role in price discovery, showing the overall outlook of U.S. investors on the AI market. It signaled to U.S. investors that 'AI investment is still solid.']

Investment sentiment recovered as the U.S. consumer price inflation rate for June was lower than the previous month, easing the burden of interest rate hikes. Additionally, news that Meta would significantly expand its data center investments and upward revenue forecasts for semiconductor equipment firm ASML contributed to the rally.

The scale of investments by major U.S. tech companies such as Alphabet and Meta, to be announced at the end of this month, remains a key variable.

[Interview: Kim Hak-kyun / Head of Research Center, Shinyoung Securities : The capital expenditure plans of companies like Google, Meta, and Microsoft, which buy and use semiconductor chips from Korea, will likely be important.]

The won-dollar exchange rate fell to the mid-1,480 won range for the first time in two months, closing at 1,484 won as of 3:30 p.m.

Analysts attribute this to foreign investors' net buying of over 3 trillion won over the past two days, as well as the inflow of semiconductor export proceeds and funds from SK Hynix's ADR issuance.

(Video Editing: Jung Yong-hwa, VJ: Jung Han-wook, Design: Kim Ye-ji)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.