[Anchor]

Fueled by SK Hynix announcing record-breaking earnings alongside a massive 100 trillion won shareholder return plan, the Kospi broke back past the 6,000 threshold yesterday (the 28th) for the first time in a long while. Semiconductor stocks surged overnight on Wall Street, and Samsung Electronics' third-quarter earnings and shareholder return scale, to be announced today, are expected to have a major impact on the market once again.

[Reporter]

The Kospi surged 10% in just two days.

Following news the previous day about the filing for an IPO by U.S. AI firm Anthropic, SK Hynix announced its earnings and stated that its supply for the next three years is already completely sold out, driving the rally significantly higher.

SK Hynix posted a record-breaking operating profit of 83 trillion won in the third quarter alone, and its unveiling of a shareholder return policy scaling up to 100 trillion won provided a massive boost to the Kospi index.

A buy-side sidecar was triggered on the Kospi for two consecutive days, pushing the index back above the 6,000 mark for the first time in 10 trading sessions since the 13th.

Following Tuesday, foreigners net-purchased 820 billion won and institutions net-purchased 960 billion won yesterday, leading the market.

When including the alternative trading system Nextrade, the scale of net purchases by foreign investors increases to 1.14 trillion won. This marks the first time in about a month, since last month the 18th, that foreign investors have net-purchased over 1 trillion won worth of stocks.

Now, the baton has passed to Samsung Electronics.

Samsung Electronics is also set to announce its detailed third-quarter earnings and shareholder return policy this morning, with forecasts emerging that it could surpass the 100 trillion won scale unveiled by SK Hynix.

[Interview / Park Sang-hyun / Senior Analyst at iM Securities]: "If the trend continues where South Korea's two major companies themselves generate the highest profits in the entire world, I think it will quite likely sustain an upward trajectory...."

Reflecting these expectations, while SK Hynix shares jumped 10.9% yesterday, Samsung Electronics also rose by 9%.

Attention is now focused on how the earnings reports of major U.S. tech companies such as Microsoft and Alphabet, released overnight in the U.S., will affect our stock market today.

(Photo: Yonhap News)
(Reported by Lim Woo-sik | Video by Yoon Tae-ho)