Kospi Jumps 4.9% After Micron Blowout Sends Samsung, SK Hynix Soaring; 9,000 in Sight

The Kospi surged in early trading on June 25, triggering a buy-side sidecar within five minutes of the market open. The rally came after a blowout earnings report from U.S. memory-chip maker Micron Technology sent Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix sharply higher.

As of 9:10 a.m., the Kospi was trading at 8,882.12, up 411.10 points, or 4.85%, from the previous session.

The index opened at 8,704.42, up 2.74%, and extended gains after SK Hynix began trading. A buy-side sidecar was triggered at about 9:05 a.m.

Retail and institutional investors were net buyers of 469.3 billion won and 422.5 billion won, respectively, on the main bourse, lifting the index. Foreign investors, by contrast, were net sellers of 933.5 billion won, though they bought a net 177.3 billion won of Kospi 200 futures.

Samsung Electronics rose 4.41% and SK Hynix jumped 9.34%. Both companies regained market capitalizations above 2,000 trillion won.

Micron's results drove the move. The company said earnings per share for the previous quarter came to $25.11, well above market expectations of around $20. The figure also topped the $22 to $23 range that had circulated just before the earnings release.

SK Hynix outpaced Samsung in part because plans for a Nasdaq listing of its American depositary receipts have taken clearer shape. The company said on June 24 that its board approved the issuance of 17.79 million new shares through a paid-in capital increase for the ADR listing. Brokerages are anticipating a re-rating if the ADRs begin trading on Nasdaq.

Stocks tied to the value of holdings in SK Hynix and Samsung also rallied. SK Square climbed 7.34%, Samsung Life Insurance rose 3.23%, and Samsung C&T surged 12.36%. SK Corp. jumped 16.01%.

Samsung Biologics, which had surged a day earlier, fell 1.01%.

The Kosdaq rose 18.85 points, or 2.07%, to 928.16. On that market, retail investors were net buyers of 117.2 billion won, while foreign and institutional investors sold a net 70.7 billion won and 34.8 billion won, respectively.

Most of the Kosdaq's biggest stocks were also higher.

Alteogen gained 2.69% and Kolon TissueGene added 1.38%.

EcoPro BM rose 1.05%, while EcoPro was little changed.

Jusung Engineering advanced 0.77% and Wonik IPS climbed 3.92%.

In Seoul's foreign-exchange market, the won-dollar exchange rate was 1,546 won per dollar, up 3.3 won, or 0.21%, from the previous session.

U.S. stocks ended mixed overnight. Lower oil prices and declining Treasury yields spurred bargain buying after the previous session's steep selloff, but renewed concerns over sour private-credit loans weighed on technology shares.

On June 24, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 182.06 points, or 0.35%, to 51,848.90. The S&P 500 fell 7.24 points, or 0.10%, to 7,358.22, while the Nasdaq Composite dropped 110.40 points, or 0.43%, to 25,476.64.

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