[Edaily Reporter Lee Hye-ra] The KOSPI and KOSDAQ indices are extending their gains in the afternoon session. The markets are maintaining their momentum in the afternoon following remarks by U.S. President Donald Trump hinting at an end to the trade war.
According to MP Doctor on the 12th, as of 1:48 p.m., the KOSPI is trading at 8,423.75, up 660.52 points (8.51%) from the previous trading day.
The index, which opened with a gain of over 6%, continued its sharp rise early in the session, driven mainly by major stocks, triggering a buy-side circuit breaker at one point. This marks the 13th time this year that the KOSPI buy-side circuit breaker has been triggered. Having surged by 660 points in one go, the index is now about 500 points away from reaching the 9,000-point mark.
Major market participants are bolstering the market by engaging in large-scale coordinated buying. Foreign investors, who are net buyers in the stock market for the first time in 11 trading days, have purchased 2.6561 trillion won worth of shares as of this writing. Institutional investors, led by financial investment firms and asset management companies, are buying 3.5752 trillion won worth of shares. In contrast, retail investors have begun taking profits for the first time in three days, with net sales totaling 6.0777 trillion won.
With the exception of #Samsung Electro-Mechanics, the top 10 stocks by market capitalization are all on the rise.
#SamsungElectronics and #SKHynix are up 12% and 9%, respectively. In particular, buying momentum for Samsung Electronics is believed to be driven by foreign media reports suggesting the company will handle part of the production for Google’s next-generation artificial intelligence (AI) chips. The U.S. IT media outlet The Information reported today, citing multiple sources, that Google is discussing a plan to entrust the production of key components for its 10th-generation Tensor Processing Unit (TPU) to Samsung Electronics’ foundry (semiconductor contract manufacturing) division. Google plans to split the production of this TPU—known by the code name “Icefish”—between TSMC and Samsung Electronics.
Samsung Electro-Mechanics saw its stock price rise by over 10% during the trading session, but profit-taking has been accelerating in the afternoon. As of this writing, Samsung Electro-Mechanics is trading at 1,799,000 won, down 0.33%.
At the same time, the KOSDAQ index is trading at 1,048.88 points, up 51.85 points (5.21%) from the previous trading day.
The KOSDAQ index, which opened by reclaiming the 1,000-point mark, continues its upward trend following the previous day’s sharp rise.
In terms of market participants, institutional buying is prominent. Institutions are buying for the second consecutive day, with net purchases totaling 530.3 billion won. In contrast, retail investors and foreign investors are net sellers by 108.9 billion won and 455.3 billion won, respectively. They have been selling for two consecutive days.
Top-cap stocks on the KOSDAQ are also generally on the rise.
Among the top 10 stocks, seven—excluding #Alteogen, #Juseong Engineering, and #Kolon TissueGene—are trading in the red. While EcoPro Group stocks are surging in unison, Juseong Engineering continues to see profit-taking following its recent sharp rise.
#Wonik IPS, which led the surge the previous day, has hit the daily price limit today, trading around the 183,000 won mark.