[Anchor]

The KOSPI has surged by over 6%, reclaiming the 7,000 level. The recovery in semiconductor investment sentiment has helped the market bounce back significantly from the shock of "Black Monday."

Here is the report by Choi Seung-hun.

[Reporter]

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

The buying momentum remained strong throughout the afternoon, leading the index to close at 7,284, up 6.2%.

Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, the top two companies by market capitalization that had been suffering from concerns over a peak in the semiconductor cycle, led the index's rise.

SK Hynix surged 8.8% to surpass the 2 million won mark again, while 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 this sharp rise 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 dollars for SK Hynix ADRs.

As optimism for semiconductors was 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 on the AI market as perceived by U.S. investors. It signaled to U.S. investors that investment in AI remains robust.]

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

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

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

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

Analysts suggest that this was influenced by 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 the issuance of SK Hynix ADRs.

(Video Editing: Jung Yong-hwa, VJ: Jung Han-wook, Graphics: Kim Ye-ji)