On October 10, the first trading day after the Chuseok holiday, the KOSPI settled in the 3,600 range for the first time ever, buoyed by a rally in semiconductor stocks.
On this day, the KOSPI closed at 3,610.60, up 61.39 points (1.73%) from the previous session. The index opened at 3,598.11, up 48.90 points (1.38%) from the previous session, and broke through the 3,600 mark for the first time in early trading. At one point during the session, it climbed as high as 3,617.86, setting a new all-time high.
While individuals and institutions were net sellers of 500 billion won and 597.7 billion won, respectively, foreign investors purchased 1.0635 trillion won, driving the index upward. However, in the KOSPI 200 futures market, foreign investors alone sold 786.3 billion won, while individuals and institutions were net buyers of 84.2 billion won and 681 billion won, respectively.
The top KOSPI stocks by market capitalization ended the day with mixed results. LG Energy Solution, which has been struggling with a prolonged downturn, fell 9.90%. Hanwha Aerospace (-5.01%), KB Financial Group (-3.42%), HD Hyundai Heavy Industries (-2.46%), and Hyundai Motor (-1.36%) also declined. On the other hand, Doosan Enerbility (14.97%), SK Hynix (8.22%), Samsung Electronics (6.07%), NAVER (5.73%), and Samsung Biologics (0.50%) posted gains.
On the same day, the KOSDAQ index also finished higher, closing at 859.49, up 5.24 points (0.61%) from the previous session. The KOSDAQ opened at 858.86, up 4.61 points (0.54%), but turned weaker during the session before rebounding as foreign buying increased. Foreign investors bought 238.5 billion won, while individuals and institutions sold 130.7 billion won and 83.9 billion won, respectively.
Most of the top KOSDAQ stocks by market capitalization ended the day lower. EcoPro BM (-3.44%), Samchundang Pharm (-3.02%), HLB (-2.63%), Alteogen (-2.23%), Peptron (-2.00%), EcoPro (-1.69%), ABL Bio (-1.57%), PharmaResearch (-1.45%), and LIG ChemBio (-1.12%) declined, while Rainbow Robotics (7.15%) closed strongly higher.
By industry, machinery (+7.85%), display panels (+6.76%), semiconductors (+6.63%), media services (+4.90%), and electrical equipment (+4.67%) showed notable gains, while electrical products (-6.42%), other financials (-4.28%), aerospace and defense (-3.83%), and steel (-3.14%) experienced corrections.
Kim Jiwon, a researcher at KB Securities, commented, "Domestic semiconductor stocks continued their rally, fueled by positive news during the holiday period such as the strategic collaboration between OpenAI and AMD, and NVIDIA's approval to export to the UAE. However, with the rally concentrated in semiconductors, only about 30% of KOSPI stocks rose. In the KOSDAQ, weakness in pharmaceutical, biotech, and secondary battery stocks, along with the absence of leading sectors, limited gains."
The market is now focused on whether the semiconductor-driven rally will continue after the scheduled release of Samsung Electronics' preliminary earnings on October 14.
Meanwhile, in the Seoul foreign exchange market, the weekly closing exchange rate of the Korean won against the US dollar (as of 3:30 p.m.) was recorded at 1,421.0, up 21.0 won from the previous trading day. This is the highest closing level since April 30, when it also ended at 1,421.0 won.
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