[Edaily Reporter Kim Hyung-il ] The KOSPI surged by more than 5% just one day after plummeting by over 5% the previous day, triggering the buy-side circuit breaker. As SK hynix(000660)announced a plan to repurchase and cancel 40 trillion won worth of its own shares, major semiconductor stocks such as SamsungElectronics(005930)and SK hynix are surging, leading the index’s rebound.

According to the Korea Exchange on the 20th, a temporary suspension of program buy orders (buy-side sidecar) was triggered on the KOSPI market at 9:57 a.m. today. This marks the first such occurrence in five trading days since the 12th and is the 49th sidecar activation this year. So far this year, there have been 25 sell-side sidecar activations and 24 buy-side sidecar activations.

This buy-side sidecar was triggered when the KOSPI 200 futures price met the threshold. The KOSPI 200 futures rose 5.1% from the benchmark price of 1,016.25 to 1,068.15 at 9:57 a.m., and this upward trend continued for one minute.

Following the sidecar activation, the effectiveness of buy orders in program trading was suspended for five minutes. The suspension is automatically lifted five minutes after activation. At the time of activation—9:57 a.m.—program trading showed a net buy of 9 billion won.

The KOSPI opened at 6,680.34, up 209.17 points (3.23%) from the previous trading day, and continued to extend its gains. At 10:21 a.m., it reached 6,803.96, up 332.79 points (5.14%) from the previous trading day. There were 509 gainers and 353 losers, with two stocks hitting their upper price limit.

Large-cap semiconductor stocks are surging, driving the index higher. As of 10:21 a.m., SamsungElectronics was trading at 265,500 won, up 7.27%. SK hynix extended its gains, rising 11.07% to 1,666,000 won. SamsungElectronics(1P)(005935)rose 8.23%, and SKSQUARE(402340)rose 6.97%.

SK hynix’s expansion of shareholder returns is seen as having boosted investor sentiment toward semiconductor stocks. At a board meeting the previous day, SK hynix decided to repurchase 24.07 million shares of its own stock, valued at 40.0043 trillion won, and cancel them in their entirety. This represents approximately 3.3% of the company’s outstanding shares. The purchase period runs from today through November 19, and the company also expanded the criteria for its existing shareholder return policy from “within 50%” of cumulative free cash flow (FCF) to “50% or more.”

In terms of market supply and demand, foreign investors and institutions are engaging in net buying. As of 10:21 a.m., foreign investors had made net purchases of 275.2 billion won and institutions 113.7 billion won, while retail investors were net sellers of 613.2 billion won.

Meanwhile, the KOSPI closed down 5.8% the previous day due to factors such as a sharp rise in U.S. long-term interest rates and weakness in semiconductor stocks, and the intraday sell-side circuit breaker was triggered.