News about Kospi

South Korea's Kospi rose 6.6% on Wednesday after SK Hynix reported a sevenfold jump in September-quarter operating profit to 83.3 trillion won ($62.5 billion), beating forecasts by more than 7%, and announced 60 trillion won ($45 billion) in buybacks and dividends for the rest of the fiscal year. SK Hynix shares climbed 11% and Samsung Electronics jumped 9%, while Micron and SanDisk gained 4% in U.S. premarket trading. The company said conventional and high-bandwidth memory is sold out through 2029, with shortages expected to last at least until 2030. The rally follows a few days of AI stock recovery after weeks of pressure as investors questioned AI infrastructure spending.

Samsung Electronics shares closed down 9.5% and SK Hynix fell 11.1% as the Kospi closed 7.57% lower at 5,554.22, its lowest close since April 7, triggering circuit breakers across South Korean markets. Investors cited competition from China's ChangXin Memory Technologies, which has developed a new DRAM design, US consumer prices rising 3.7% in September that raised expectations the Fed could raise rates again, and doubts about AI spending, with CoreWeave falling about 15% on Wall Street. Foreign investors net sold 3.62 trillion won ($2.68 billion) of Kospi shares, and the index has dropped about 20% over six trading days. Retail investors who bought leveraged ETFs tied to Samsung and SK Hynix were hit hardest. The won also weakened against the dollar.