KOSPI reclaims 5,800 on combined buying by foreigners and institutions… ‘Samsung at 200,000 won’ and ‘Hynix at 1 million won’ return

The KOSPI surged more than 3% intraday on the 18th, reclaiming the 5,800 level, as combined buying by foreign and institutional investors offset jitters over Middle East tensions. On expectations of strong results from U.S. memory bellwether Micron, Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix rose in tandem, returning to the ‘Samsung at 200,000 won’ and ‘Hynix at 1 million won’ milestones.

As of 10:57 a.m., the KOSPI was up 191.53 points (3.4%) from the previous session to 5,832.01. After opening up 2.24%, the index at one point extended gains to as much as 3.96%.

In the main board market, foreigners and institutions were net buyers of 297.6 billion won and 1.8525 trillion won, respectively, while individuals were net sellers of 2.0682 trillion won.

With Wall Street ending higher overnight, Micron’s record high ahead of earnings appeared to lift sentiment in Korean equities as well. The Dow rose 0.1%, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq gained 0.25% and 0.47%, respectively.

Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix jumped more than 5% and 3%, respectively, trading in the 200,000-won and 1,000,000-won ranges. Among other KOSPI heavyweights, Hyundai Motor, LG Energy Solution, SK Square, Samsung Biologics, Doosan Enerbility, Kia, HD Hyundai Heavy Industries, KB Financial Group and Samsung C&T rose, while Hanwha Aerospace fell.

The KOSDAQ was up 20.09 points (1.77%) from the previous session at 1,157.03 at the same time. In the KOSDAQ market, foreigners were net buyers of 279.3 billion won, while individuals and institutions were net sellers of 209.8 billion won and 29.7 billion won, respectively.

Among top KOSDAQ names by market cap, EcoPro, EcoPro BM, Alteogen, Samchundang Pharm, Rainbow Robotics, ABL Bio, Lino Industrial, LigaChem Bio, Peptron and HLB rose, while Kolon TissueGene and Voronoi fell.

Jung-sam Ko, Hankyung.com reporter jsk@hankyung.com