Kospi Opens 2% Higher After ‘Black Thursday’ Selloff, Tries to Retake 5,700

Opens 1.8% higher, approaches 5,700

Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix rebound together

Individuals and institutions buy; foreigners sell

The Kospi opened higher on October 16, recouping part of the previous session’s losses after tumbling more than 7% a day earlier. Heavyweight chip stocks including Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix rebounded, while individual and institutional investors bought shares. Investor sentiment, badly shaken by the rout, also showed signs of stabilizing after overnight gains on Wall Street.

As of 9:57 a.m., the Kospi was up 140.26 points, or 2.53%, at 5,694.48. The benchmark opened at 5,653.99, up 99.77 points, or 1.80%, from the previous session. It later climbed as high as 5,699.83, nearing a recovery of the 5,700 level.

On the main board, individuals were net buyers of 116.5 billion won and institutions bought a net 144.9 billion won. Foreign investors, by contrast, were net sellers of 361.9 billion won, extending their selling trend.

Buying returned to chip heavyweights that had plunged the previous day. Samsung Electronics rose 4,500 won, or 2.14%, to 214,500 won, while SK Hynix gained 29,000 won, or 2.30%, to 1.291 million won. Hyundai Motor advanced 5.25%, Samsung Electro-Mechanics added 3.18%, and SK Square rose 3.01%.

The Kosdaq also widened its gains. At the same time, the Kosdaq index was up 27.92 points, or 3.67%, at 788.74. It opened at 772.17, up 11.35 points, or 1.49%, from the previous close, and moved closer to the 790 mark.

The rebound came after circuit breakers briefly halted trading in both markets the previous day. The Kospi closed down 454.59 points, or 7.57%, at 5,554.22 on October 15. Selling intensified as concerns mounted over U.S. inflation and the possibility of further monetary tightening, while doubts also surfaced about the durability of AI infrastructure spending. Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix had slumped 9.48% and 11.06%, respectively.

Overnight gains in U.S. equities also lent support to the domestic market. With U.S. Treasury yields falling, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.08%, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite gained 0.33% and 0.08%, respectively. In South Korea, bargain buying after the steep selloff appeared to be lifting both benchmarks.