Kospi Soars Nearly 6% Past 7,300 as Foreign Buying Lifts Samsung, SK Hynix More Than 10%

South Korea’s Kospi soared nearly 6% on May 6, breaking above 7,300 as foreign investors snapped up stocks and futures.

As of 10:48 a.m., the benchmark index was trading at 7,341.05, up 404.06 points, or 5.82%, from the previous session. The rally was strong enough to trigger a buy-side sidecar, halting the validity of program buy orders on the main board early in the session.

Foreign investors were net buyers of 1.3171 trillion won worth of stocks on the Kospi. They were also buying 441.7 billion won of Kospi 200 futures. Retail and institutional investors, by contrast, were selling 260.9 billion won and 770.5 billion won of shares, respectively.

Foreign buying was concentrated in chip stocks. Samsung Electronics rose 11.61%, while SK Hynix gained 10.09%. SK Square, whose stake in SK Hynix has come into focus, jumped 11.40%.

HD Hyundai Heavy Industries fell 3.38%, while Hanwha Aerospace declined 1.98%.

The Kosdaq was trading at 1,206.17, down 7.57 points, or 0.62%, from the previous day. In that market, retail investors were net buyers of 360.1 billion won worth of shares, while institutions and foreigners sold 250.8 billion won and 71.5 billion won, respectively.

Most of the Kosdaq’s largest stocks by market capitalization were lower.

EcoPro and EcoPro BM rose 1.6% and 1.86%, respectively.

HLB gained 2.13%, while Alteogen and ABL Bio fell 2.28% and 3.55%, respectively.

In Seoul’s foreign-exchange market, the won-dollar rate was 1,457.2 won per dollar, down 19.3 won, or 1.31%, from the previous session.

Han Gyeong-woo, Hankyung.com reporter, case@hankyung.com