The KOSPI fluctuated during trading on the 27th, showing a volatile pattern before ultimately rising close to 1% to close in the 6,700 range.

According to the Korea Exchange, the KOSPI closed at 6,755.75, up 65.13 points (0.97%) from the previous session.

The index started the session up 115.65 points (1.73%) at 6,806.27, but fluctuated, stayed near the flat line, and then turned downward.

During the session, it briefly slumped to 6,557.39 (-1.99%), but turned upward again in the afternoon.

Following a steep 5.72% plunge in the previous trading session, it succeeded in rebounding today, though the extent of the gains was limited.

As of 3:30 p.m. today in the Seoul foreign exchange market, the won-dollar exchange rate stood at 1,468.5 won, up 1.9 won from the previous session's base rate.

Individuals and foreign investors engaged in a tug-of-war over supply and demand throughout the day.

At the market close on the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) market, individual investors registered a net purchase of 1.9799 trillion won.

Institutional investors also had an excess of purchases totaling 862.3 billion won.

However, foreign investors alone recorded an excess of sales amounting to 2.9039 trillion won, capping the upside of the index.

This marks net selling for the second consecutive trading day.

Foreign investors also net sold 184.5 billion won in the KOSPI 200 futures market.

Last week in the New York stock market, the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index fell 0.64% from the previous session due to semiconductor sell-offs.

Intel dropped 7.9% despite releasing second-quarter earnings that beat market expectations due to doubts over securing future foundry clients, while other semiconductor stocks such as Broadcom (-2.7%), AMD (-3.3%), and Micron (-7.0%) also trended downward.

The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index declined by 4.3%.

SK Hynix American Depositary Receipts (ADRs) also plummeted 8.8%.

Kim Jae-seung, an analyst at Hyundai Motor Securities, analyzed, "Investors are increasingly growing doubtful about whether big tech companies, which are competing in artificial intelligence (AI) investments despite worsening cash flows, can sustain their excessive CapEx (capital expenditures)."

On the 26th local time, the U.S. daily newspaper The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) pointed out that the price of SK Hynix American Depositary Receipts (ADRs) was trading at a significantly wide margin compared to the main shares (common stocks) listed in Korea, warning of this as "another sign of overheating in the AI trade."

James Mackintosh, a senior markets columnist for the WSJ, stated in his column, "The massive premium formed on SK Hynix ADRs compared to its Korea-listed shares is something that should not happen in the market."

Amidst such AI and semiconductor-related concerns, news emerged over the weekend in San Francisco of a mega-sized AI cooperation project worth $950 billion (approx. 1,390 trillion won) between major South Korean and U.S. companies.

Triggered by the 'San Francisco AI Summit', domestic companies such as Samsung, SK, Hyundai Motor Group, and Naver, alongside global AI enterprises including Nvidia, OpenAI, Broadcom, and Anthropic, consecutively announced massive investments and supply chain cooperation.

Amidst this, the domestic stock market attempted a recovery, but failed to show a full-scale rebound.

In particular, as China's semiconductor firm ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT) was listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange today, domestic semiconductor 'two-tops' Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix turned downward.

Some claims suggest that CXMT's listing may have impacted the supply and demand dynamics of Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix.

Through its recent initial public offering (IPO), CXMT issued 6.888 billion new shares at an offering price of 8.66 yuan, raising 57.92 billion yuan (approx. 12.5 trillion won).

This is known to be the largest scale in the Asian stock market this year and the largest ever among Chinese semiconductor companies.

Furthermore, it drew intense investor attention by briefly rising to the top spot in mainland market capitalization following its listing today.

However, Samsung Electronics (1.80%) and SK Hynix (3.24%) eventually succeeded in rebounding, closing trading at 254,000 won and 1,816,000 won, respectively.

Seo Sang-young, managing director at Mirae Asset Securities, said in a phone interview with Yonhap News, "Although semiconductor sectors dropped sharply in the U.S. market last Friday, large-scale contracts by Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix were concluded over the weekend and the U.S.-Iran military clash was limited, leaving both adverse and favorable factors mixed for the domestic stock market."

Kang Jin-hyeok, an analyst at Shinhan Securities, pointed out, "Despite the announcement of large-scale cooperation projects with big tech, volatility originating from CXMT increased. As CXMT's listing opening price surged 471% to claim the top spot in A-share market capitalization by surpassing the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), shockwaves surrounding the supply and demand before and after market opening also amplified volatility in the domestic stock market."

Lee Kyung-min, an analyst at Daishin Securities, explained, "CXMT raised expectations by presenting plans to expand its production capacity more than twofold by 2030, and Nomura Securities also positively evaluated it by presenting a target price of 116 yuan applying a price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 20 times."

Lee added, "However, due to supply and demand volatility stemming from CXMT's listing, the domestic semiconductor sector showed a relatively sluggish trend."

Among other market-cap heavyweights, Hyundai Motor (0.50%), LG Energy Solution (1.06%), Samsung Biologics (1.78%), KB Financial Group (0.64%), and HD Hyundai Heavy Industries (0.21%) finished higher.

Conversely, SK Square (-1.17%), Samsung Electro-Mechanics (-0.08%), Samsung Life Insurance (-2.04%), and Samsung C&T (-0.73%) were weak.

Hyundai Rotem plunged 16.35% due to lower-than-expected second-quarter earnings and hit a 52-week low during trading.

Meanwhile, Woori Financial Group rose 7.29% after announcing its decision to additionally buy back and retire treasury shares worth 150 billion won in the second half of the year, showcasing stock movements responsive to companies' second-quarter earnings announcements and second-half plans.

In the KOSPI market today, 497 stocks advanced, 372 declined, and 47 remained unchanged, showing warmth spreading evenly.

By sector, IT services (4.47%), entertainment and culture (4.16%), and medical and precision instruments (3.58%) posted the largest gains, whereas construction (-3.62%), metals (-3.22%), and chemicals (-2.64%) sectors declined.

Meanwhile, the KDAQ index overcame its sharp drop from the previous session (-5.32%) to close up 16.64 points (2.22%) at 764.86.

The index opened up 12.32 points (1.65%) at 760.54 and has maintained its upward momentum.

Although it briefly climbed to 780.39 (4.30%) in early trading, it closed with slightly reduced gains.

In the KOSDAQ market, institutional investors recorded an excess of purchases totaling 272.7 billion won.

Individual and foreign investors registered net sales of 144 billion won and 129.1 billion won, respectively.

Most top-tier market capitalization stocks in the KOSDAQ market, such as Alteogen (3.83%), EcoPro (3.20%), EcoPro BM (2.03%), Rainbow Robotics (6.57%), and Jusung Engineering (6.31%), moved upward, while some such as D&D Pharmatech (-1.01%), Voronoi (-1.10%), and ST Pharm (-14.40%) showed weakness.

In the KOSDAQ market, 1,007 stocks advanced, 628 declined, and 99 remained unchanged.

Trading values for the KOSPI and KOSDAQ markets were tallied at 24.2748 trillion won and 4.4169 trillion won, respectively.

The trading values for alternative trading system Nextrade's pre-market and main market totaled 11.073 trillion won.

(Photo: Yonhap News)