Seoul shares surged sharply on Tuesday, with the KOSPI reclaiming the 5,600 level. Anthropic's initial public offering (IPO) application thawed the chilled semiconductor investment sentiment.
With a sudden positive catalyst emerging on the eve of SK Hynix's earnings announcement, easing pessimism regarding artificial intelligence (AI) investments, market attention is now focused on a series of upcoming earnings and interest rate events scheduled for this week.
The KOSPI closed at 5,638.34, up 168.87 points (3.09%) from the previous trading session. The intraday high reached 5,737.61, a gain of 268.14 points (4.90%). The Korea Exchange triggered the buy-side sidecar (futures market circuit breaker) just 76 minutes after the opening bell.
Foreign investors, who had remained silent for three consecutive trading days, returned as buyers and emerged as a key supply-demand driver. Their net purchases totaled 835.9 billion won across both exchanges, joining institutional investors (418.5 billion won) to absorb the 1.4046 trillion won in net selling by retail investors.
The semiconductor sector's rally was particularly prominent. Samsung Electronics rose 9,000 won (4.23%) to close at 222,000 won, while SK Hynix gained 66,000 won (5.18%) to finish at 1,341,000 won, leading the index's ascent. SK Square and Samsung Electro-Mechanics surged in the 7% range. Samsung Life Insurance and Samsung C&T also closed with gains in the 3% range.
Buying pressure appeared concentrated in high market capitalization stocks. Large-cap KOSPI stocks expanded their gains to the 3% range, while mid-cap stocks hovered near flat and small-cap stocks managed only single-digit percentage gains in the 1% range. By sector, electrical electronics and medical precision instruments rose in the 4% range, manufacturing in the 3% range, and machinery/equipment and financials in the 2% range, while pharmaceuticals fell in the 3% range, showing mixed performance.
The S-1 filing submitted by Anthropic to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) was digested as an indicator of improved revenue for AI services, heating up the stock market. The company's first-half revenue reached $162.9 billion (216 trillion won), an increase of approximately 14 times year-on-year. Its second-quarter operating profit stood at $970 million (1.284 trillion won, with a profit margin of 8.4%), marking a shift to profitability compared to the same period last year.
Lee Kyung-min, a research analyst at Daishin Securities, stated, "Similar to SpaceX's earnings release, improved AI investment sentiment drove the strength of the semiconductor-centric index." He added, "Furthermore, expectations for supply-demand improvement have strengthened as the possibility of additional shareholder return measures emerging ahead of SK Hynix's preliminary earnings announcement scheduled for 9 a.m. on the 28th has come to the fore."
He continued, "The Bank of Korea's flash estimate of third-quarter real gross domestic product (GDP) released today showed growth of 1.0% quarter-on-quarter and 3.4% year-on-year, confirming a solid economic trend. We judge that semiconductor-centric fundamentals remain valid."
Lee Jae-won, a research analyst at Yuanta Securities, noted, "Concerns regarding AI investment resources and profitability have not been fully resolved." He explained, "Meta is pushing forward with a securities offering of approximately $35 billion, and credit risks among neocloud companies also persist. It is necessary to reconfirm the sustainability of AI investments and actual cash generation capabilities in this week's Big Tech earnings."
The analyst added, "While expectations for the sustainability of the semiconductor industry are spreading from large memory companies to materials, components, and equipment (so-bu-bang), differentiation based on the timing of earnings reflection and order visibility is expected to continue." He stated, "Key factors in upcoming earnings from major companies such as Microsoft (MS), Alphabet, Amazon, Intel, and SanDisk at month-end, as well as the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting, include the sustainability of memory excess profits, AI investment profitability, funding conditions, and inflation and interest rate paths."
The KOSDAQ market also rose in tandem. The index closed at 743.83, up 16.62 points (2.29%) from the previous day. Institutional investors made net purchases of 153.7 billion won, and foreign investors bought a net 64.7 billion won, while retail investors sold a net 206.2 billion won.
Simtech surged in the 9% range, while Ecopro rose in the 6% range, Ecopro BM in the 5% range, and Wonik IPS, Jusung Engineering, Iotech, and Lino Industry showed strength in the 4% range. By sector, KOSDAQ non-metals and machinery/equipment recorded gains in the 4% range, while financials rose in the 3% range.
The won/dollar exchange rate closed at 1,323.7 won on the Seoul foreign exchange market's weekday trading session, up 0.6 won from the previous day.
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