KOSPI fails to rebound, closes in 6200s; Hynix drops 5%, Samsung slightly up

South Korea's stock market, the KOSPI, closed lower on Friday, failing to sustain an early rally. The index fell 37.61 points, or 0.60%, to end at 6,258.77. The market had opened higher, climbing to over 6,400 points at one point, but reversed course as investor sentiment weakened.

The downturn is attributed to renewed tensions in the Middle East and a significant decline in U.S. semiconductor stocks. Reports of Iran's legislative push to ban the passage of U.S. and Israeli ships through the Strait of Hormuz, coupled with Houthi rebel movements against Saudi Arabia, contributed to investor anxiety. This followed a weak performance in New York markets, where memory chipmakers like SanDisk and Western Digital saw substantial drops.

Foreign investors, who were initially net buyers, turned into net sellers, offloading approximately 860 billion won worth of stocks. In contrast, institutional and individual investors recorded net purchases of 580 billion won and 270 billion won, respectively. Major semiconductor stocks showed mixed performance: Samsung Electronics rose slightly by 0.22% to close at 231,000 won, while SK Hynix dropped 4.88% to 1,422,000 won.

The KOSDAQ market also experienced a reversal, falling 2.86 points, or 0.36%, to close at 798.81 after briefly surpassing the 810-point mark. Meanwhile, the Korean won weakened against the U.S. dollar, closing the weekly trading at 1,416.1 won per dollar, down 7.7 won from the previous day. This marks the first time the weekly closing price has been in the 1,410-won range since October 16 of the previous year.