KOSPI turns positive on foreign, institutional buying; KOSDAQ falls

South Korea's KOSPI index reversed earlier losses to trade up around 1% by midday Thursday, boosted by strong buying from foreign and institutional investors. The benchmark index stood at 6358.07 points, up 58.41 points, after opening at 6240.06 and dipping as low as 6213.78 in early trading.

The recovery followed a weak performance on Wall Street, where major indices closed lower due to stalled negotiations between the U.S. and Iran over the Strait of Hormuz. However, domestic sentiment was lifted by the latest export data. Preliminary figures released by the Korea Customs Service showed exports for the first ten days of August increased by 45.3% year-on-year to $21.3 billion, with imports rising 23.1% to $19.5 billion.

Semiconductor exports, in particular, surged by 155.4% to $9.95 billion, accounting for 46.8% of total exports. This strong performance spurred gains in major chip stocks, with Samsung Electronics rising 3.91% and SK Hynix up 0.07%.

While the KOSPI gained ground, the KOSDAQ index experienced a downturn, falling 0.47% to 850.49. This decline was driven by substantial net selling from individual investors, who offloaded 495.4 billion won worth of stocks, while foreign and institutional investors were net buyers. Major KOSDAQ components like AlteoGen, EcoPro, and EcoPro BM saw significant drops.