Kospi Jumps 15%, Tops 6,500 Intraday as Foreigners Buy 8.91 Trillion Won

South Korea’s Kospi jumped about 15% in intraday trading on foreign buying, briefly topping 6,500. Semiconductor stocks including Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix led the advance.

As of 1:30 p.m. on July 31, the Kospi stood at 6,426.77, up 833.21 points, or 14.90%, from the previous session. The index earlier rose above 6,500.

The rally followed overnight strength in U.S. semiconductor stocks. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index, which tracks 30 major U.S. chip stocks, rose 8.19% from the previous session. Buy-side sidecars, a temporary curb on program buy orders, were triggered in both the Kospi and Kosdaq markets shortly after the open.

On the benchmark Kospi market, foreigners were net buyers of 8.9125 trillion won, leading the gains. Institutions were net buyers of 19 billion won, while individuals were net sellers of 9.0694 trillion won.

Among large-cap stocks, Samsung Electronics rose 21.01%, SK Hynix climbed 26.93%, and Hyundai Motor gained 6.98%. LG Energy Solution fell 0.94%, Samsung Biologics dropped 3.60%, and KB Financial Group slipped 0.48%. Samsung Electro-Mechanics, SK Square and Daeduck Electronics each rose by the daily limit.

The Kosdaq also extended its gains. At the same time, the Kosdaq Index stood at 710.07, up 65.29 points, or 10.13%, from the previous session.

In the Kosdaq market, foreigners and institutions were net buyers of 219 billion won and 158.6 billion won, respectively, while individuals were net sellers of 376.2 billion won. Among major Kosdaq names, Jusung Engineering rose 24.62%, Rainbow Robotics gained 12.87%, Ecopro added 10.34%, Alteogen advanced 9.12%, and Ecopro BM climbed 4.04%.