KOSPI surges past 8,400 points, driven by semiconductor stock rally

South Korea's KOSPI index continued its upward trajectory on Tuesday, surpassing the 8,400-point mark just a day after breaking the 8,000-point threshold. The market experienced a significant rally, particularly in semiconductor stocks, mirroring a strong performance in the U.S. market.

The surge was largely fueled by overnight gains in U.S. chipmaker Micron Technology, which saw its stock price jump by nearly 20%. This positive sentiment extended to major South Korean semiconductor companies, with Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix opening the trading day with substantial gains of 7% and 10%, respectively.

The KOSPI index began the day at 8,242.12, up 2.42% from the previous close, and rapidly expanded its gains. The KOSPI200 futures index also experienced a sharp increase of over 5%, triggering a buy-side circuit breaker at 9:06 AM. This mechanism temporarily halts program trading for five minutes when the index rises by more than 5% for over a minute, indicating extreme market volatility. This marks the tenth buy-side circuit breaker activation for the KOSPI200 futures this year and the fourth in the current month alone.

Major tech companies saw significant boosts, with SK Hynix trading at 2.264 million won, up 10.33%, and its largest shareholder, SK Square, rising 11.85% to 1.321 million won. Samsung Electronics climbed 7.19% to 320,500 won. The launch of leveraged exchange-traded funds (ETFs) focused on Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix also contributed to the market's momentum.