Seoul Stocks Rebound 2% as Chip Shares Recover from Rout
South Korea’s benchmark Kospi snapped a seven-session losing streak, gaining 2.05 percent as investors returned to battered technology shares and the won strengthened against the dollar.
South Korean stocks rebounded sharply on Friday, ending a seven-session losing streak as investors bought beaten-down technology shares and broader risk appetite improved.
The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index rose 113.83 points, or 2.05 percent, to close at 5,668.05. It climbed as high as 5,809.94 during the session. Trading volume reached 286.5 million shares worth 20 trillion won, equivalent to about $15 billion, while advancing stocks outnumbered decliners by 757 to 134.
The recovery followed a steep sell-off in the previous session, when South Korea’s leading chipmakers fell by more than 10 percent amid concerns about artificial intelligence investment, corporate borrowing and stronger-than-expected U.S. inflation. Friday’s gains suggested investors were willing to return to large-cap technology stocks after the rout.
Foreign investors purchased a net 343.5 billion won in shares. Retail and institutional investors were net sellers, offloading a combined 1.17 trillion won.
Sentiment improved after U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh expressed confidence in the strength of the American economy during the IMF-World Bank annual meetings in Bangkok. He did not indicate whether the Fed would raise interest rates this month, but his positive assessment of artificial intelligence helped ease some of the anxiety surrounding the sector’s financing burden.
Comments from Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang also supported the market. Huang said the financial position of Nvidia partner CoreWeave was improving. CoreWeave shares had dropped by more than 15 percent on Wednesday in the United States after a surge in its corporate bond yields heightened concern about debt linked to AI infrastructure spending.
Most major Seoul-listed companies finished higher. Samsung Electronics gained 2.62 percent to 215,500 won, while SK hynix advanced 0.79 percent to 1,272,000 won. Hyundai Motor rose 5.58 percent to 312,000 won, Hanwha Aerospace climbed 7.77 percent to 888,000 won and Celltrion added 6.53 percent to 194,000 won.
The Korean won strengthened to 1,331.4 per U.S. dollar as of 3:30 p.m., gaining 13.2 won from the previous session. Government bond prices also rose. The three-year Treasury yield fell 1.3 basis points to 3.854 percent, while the five-year government bond yield declined 1.9 basis points to 3.988 percent.
The broad rebound offered relief after a week of sustained declines, but the day’s trading also underscored the market’s sensitivity to global interest-rate expectations and confidence in the heavily weighted semiconductor and AI sectors.