[Edaily Reporter Park Sun-Yeop ] The KOSPI surged by more than 5%, regaining the 8,000-point mark at the close in just one day. Although the market showed signs of instability early in the session, falling as low as the 7,300-point level, sentiment quickly shifted as buyback momentum flowed in, led by major semiconductor stocks. Coupled with large-scale net buying by institutional investors, the index extended its intraday gains, triggering the buy-side circuit breaker.
According to MP Doctor on the 3rd, the KOSPI closed at 8,088.34, up 440.25 points (5.76%) from the previous trading day. Just one day after closing at 7,648.09 on the 2nd—falling below the 8,000 mark—the index recovered to reclaim the 8,000 level. Early in the session, the index dropped to 7,378.10, appearing to continue the aftermath of the previous day’s sharp decline. However, it began to rebound after 10:00 a.m. and extended its gains in the afternoon, closing above the 8,000 mark.
As the KOSPI broke through the 8,000 mark during the session, a buy-side circuit breaker was triggered. According to the Korea Exchange, the buy-side circuit breaker was activated in the KOSPI market at 1:47:16 p.m. that day, suspending the effectiveness of program buy orders for the following five minutes. This measure was taken because the price of KOSPI 200 futures—which use the KOSPI 200 as their underlying asset—remained more than 5% above the reference price for over one minute.
In terms of market participants, institutions led the index higher with net purchases of 4.457 trillion won. In contrast, retail investors and foreign investors recorded net sales of 2.3073 trillion won and 2.2111 trillion won, respectively. Program trading, combining arbitrage and non-arbitrage transactions, showed a net selling position of 940.8 billion won.

The securities industry assessed that the domestic stock market showed a strong rebound, led by large-cap semiconductor stocks. Analysts noted that growing recognition that the previous day’s sharp decline had been an oversell, combined with the fact that concerns over interest rate hikes were partially eased by weak U.S. employment data, had a positive effect on investor sentiment.
Lee Kyung-min, an analyst at DaishinSecurities, explained, “The U.S. June nonfarm payrolls report released yesterday showed an increase of only 57,000 jobs, falling significantly short of the expected 114,000,” adding, “Concerns about a labor market overheating—which had fueled expectations of a Fed rate hike—have subsided somewhat due to the weak employment data.”
Lee added, “According to the CME FedWatch, the probability of the Fed holding rates steady has risen slightly to 22.54 percent,” noting, “While expectations for a rate hike remain dominant, this has served as a positive factor for investor sentiment.”
However, profit-taking pressure on the semiconductor sector in the U.S. stock market persisted. Declines in SanDisk (-14.1%), Micron (-5.5%), and Western Digital (-9.9%) weighed on investor sentiment in the domestic semiconductor sector as well.
The analyst noted, “SamsungElectronics and SK hynix also opened lower but managed to rebound as buyback momentum emerged following the short-term plunge,” adding, “On the Japanese stock market, Kioxia also turned higher after a sharp opening decline, which supported investor sentiment in the semiconductor sector and acted as upward pressure on stock prices.”
By market capitalization, large-cap stocks rose 6.20%. Mid-cap stocks remained flat, while small-cap stocks rose 0.87%.
By sector, the electrical and electronics sector posted the largest gain, rising 8.15%. The securities and manufacturing sectors also rose 7.61% and 6.77%, respectively. In contrast, the entertainment and culture and healthcare and precision instruments sectors were relatively weak, falling 3.03% and 1.74%, respectively.
Stocks with the highest market capitalization generally performed strongly. SamsungElectronics(005930)closed at 309,500 won, up 23,500 won (8.22%) from the previous trading day. SK hynix(000660)also closed at 2,425,000 won, up 238,000 won (10.88%).
In addition, SKSQUARE(402340)(4.20%), SamsungElectroMechanics(009150)(3.27%), HyundaiMotor(005380)(2.07%), and LG Energy Solution(373220)(2.40%) also rose. Samsung Life Insurance(032830)(3.37%), SAMSUNG C&T CORPORATION(028260)(6.64%), and SAMSUNG BIOLOGICS(207940)(1.07%) also showed strength.
Trading volume on the KOSPI market that day totaled 462.48 million shares, with a total trading value of 45.2334 trillion won. Including two stocks that hit their upper price limit, 589 stocks rose, while 297 fell. One stock hit its lower price limit, and 27 remained unchanged.
The KOSDAQ index also closed slightly higher. The KOSDAQ index ended the day at 868.41, up 1.69 points (0.19%) from the previous trading day. Although it showed weakness early in the session, it gradually narrowed its losses and turned positive.
In the KOSDAQ market, retail investors made net purchases totaling 112.1 billion won. In contrast, foreign investors and institutions made net sales of 20.2 billion won and 103.9 billion won, respectively. Program trading, combining arbitrage and non-arbitrage transactions, showed a net selling position of 139.7 billion won.