KOSPI rebounds 1% in volatile session, driven by broad gains despite tech giants' fluctuations

South Korea's main stock market index, the KOSPI, closed with a 1.62% gain on August 4, ending the trading day at 6358.95 points. The market experienced significant volatility, opening higher but falling into negative territory before staging a late recovery. This seesaw trading reflected broader market dynamics, with many individual stocks performing well despite the index's fluctuations.

On this day, 788 out of 915 companies listed on the stock exchange saw their stock prices increase, representing approximately 86% of the market. This broad-based upward movement was evident across various sectors, including information technology, telecommunications, construction, metals, equipment, chemicals, and pharmaceuticals. Small and mid-cap stock indices also saw gains of 2-4%.

However, the overall KOSPI index's performance was significantly influenced by the movements of two heavyweight companies: Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, which together account for nearly half of the market's total capitalization. Both stocks experienced sharp declines of 3-4% during the trading session before recovering to close with modest gains of 0.21% and 0.64%, respectively. Their volatility created a turbulent trading environment for the broader index.

The market also saw a notable shift in investment sentiment towards the KOSDAQ market, which experienced a substantial surge of 5.88%, closing at 780.72 points. This upward trend on the KOSDAQ was particularly concentrated in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology sectors, with buy-side orders triggering a "sidecar" mechanism for three consecutive trading days. Lee Kyung-min, a researcher at 대신증권 (Daishin Securities), noted that domestic semiconductor stocks faced selling pressure, diverging from their U.S. counterparts, while demand shifted to other sectors.

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Domestic semiconductor stocks faced selling pressure, diverging from U.S. memory sector, and demand spread to other sectors.