Kospi Reclaims 7,000 in Early Trade on Foreign, Institutional Buying; Samsung Electronics Jumps More Than 3%

South Korea’s Kospi opened higher on buying by foreign and institutional investors and briefly reclaimed the 7,000 mark in early trading.

As of 9:07 a.m. on September 21, the Kospi was up 96.31 points, or 1.40%, at 6,990.54 from the previous session. The index opened 44.11 points, or 0.64%, higher at 6,938.34, climbed above 7,000 at one point, and then pared some of its gains.

Foreign and institutional investors were leading the advance. In the main board, foreigners were net buyers of 132.8 billion won, while institutions bought a net 69 billion won. Foreigners also posted net buying of 118.3 billion won in the Kospi 200 futures market. Retail investors were net sellers of 236.9 billion won.

Among large-cap stocks, semiconductor names were strong. Samsung Electronics jumped 3.45%, while SK Hynix rose 1.24%. Samsung Electro-Mechanics climbed 3.10%, SK Square added 2.87%, Samsung C&T gained 2.71%, and Samsung Life Insurance advanced 2.47%. LG Energy Solution fell 1.51%, while Hyundai Motor slipped 0.68%.

The Kosdaq, by contrast, was little changed in slightly negative territory. At the same time, the Kosdaq index was down 0.32 point, or 0.04%, at 826.80. Retail investors were net buyers of 144.1 billion won, while foreigners and institutions were net sellers of 110 billion won and 29.6 billion won, respectively.

On the Kosdaq, Alteogen rose 1.38%. Semiconductor materials, parts and equipment stocks also traded higher, with Wonik IPS up 3.37%, Simmtech gaining 1.35%, and EO Technics rising 1.32%. Ecopro BM fell 1.24%, Ecopro lost 0.99%, and Jusung Engineering slipped 0.49%.

In Seoul’s foreign-exchange market, the won was trading at 1,387.1 per dollar, up 1.6 won, or 0.12%, from the previous session.