Semiconductor Boom Defies Middle East Clouds as KOSPI Reclaims 7,000 Milestone

[Anchor]

Despite mounting risks from the Middle East, the KOSPI has surpassed the 7,000-point mark for the first time in 33 trading sessions. Hopes for continued growth in the semiconductor market are rising as expectations for expanding AI demand were reaffirmed following OpenAI's announcement of its new model, Astra.

Reporter Lee Tae-gwon has the details.

[Reporter]

The KOSPI opened at 6,972 and expanded its gains from the morning, briefly topping 7,100 during the session.

Although it gave up some of those gains in the afternoon, the index closed up 1.4% at 7,051.

This marks the first time the index has closed above the 7,000 threshold in 33 trading sessions since July 23.

Other corporate entities, reflecting treasury stock purchases by Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, recorded a net purchase of 1.7 trillion won, maintaining a net buying streak for the fourth consecutive trading session.

While Samsung Electronics finished flat, SK Hynix rose 3.5%, and buying sentiment spread to secondary battery and power equipment stocks.

The upward trend was driven by expectations of AI growth, overriding multiple headwinds, including rising global oil prices and climbing U.S. Treasury yields amid ongoing military conflicts in the Middle East.

A major factor was the continued anticipation of expanding AI infrastructure demand following OpenAI's unveiling of its new AI model, Astra, alongside strong performances by semiconductor stocks in the U.S. market.

[Lee Jin-woo / Head of Research Center, Meritz Securities: There is an atmosphere in the U.S. AI-related trend shifting back from software to hardware, and amid that, there are also upward revisions in earnings forecasts for chip makers....]

However, the market's upside appears capped as retail investors unload their holdings to break even whenever the stock market rises.

Retail investors have net-sold more than 15 trillion won this month alone.

[Park Sang-hyun / Research Fellow, iM Securities: Right now, retail investors are continuing to sell heavily whenever the index crosses the 7,000 line, so this supply wall itself could become the biggest obstacle to settling above 7,000 or achieving a sustained upward trend....]

Meanwhile, stronger-than-expected employment data has reignited speculation about a potential interest rate hike by the U.S. Federal Reserve, making the U.S. Consumer Price Index, to be released the day after tomorrow, a critical turning point for the short-term direction of the stock market.

(Photo: Yonhap News)
(Video reporting: Bae Moon-san | Video editing: Kim Jin-won | Design: Lee Jun-ho)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.