Foreign investors drove early gains as South Korean stocks tracked Wall Street's rally, with semiconductor shares leading and the Kosdaq rising 1.97%.
South Korea's Kospi climbed 4.47% to 6,643.06 by 9:20 a.m. on August 5, extending an early rally that briefly lifted the index to 6,672.22 and prompting the Korea Exchange to activate a buy-side circuit breaker. The move came after the Kospi 200 futures index rose more than 5% from the previous day and held those gains for over a minute, triggering a five-minute halt to program buy orders. The advance followed a strong August 4 session on Wall Street, where the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.71% to 54,085.88, the S&P 500 gained 1.79% to 7,736.52, and the Nasdaq Composite surged 2.59% to 26,584.99. Analysts cited easing tensions between the US and Iran over the Strait of Hormuz and lower oil prices, along with strong earnings from major artificial intelligence companies, as factors that improved investor sentiment. Foreign investors led buying on the main board with net purchases of 343.9 billion won by 9:15 a.m., while institutions bought a net 2.3 billion won and retail investors sold a net 323.8 billion won. Samsung Electronics rose more than 4%, SK Hynix gained more than 7%, and Samsung Electro-Mechanics jumped more than 12%, helping lift construction and electrical/electronics shares by over 5%. The Kosdaq also advanced, rising 1.97% to 796.09 by 9:20 a.m. Retail investors were net buyers there, while foreign and institutional investors sold. Brokerages recommended rebalancing toward a roughly 80:20 or 70:30 Kospi-Kosdaq split as returns broaden across sectors, with Han Ji-young of Kiwoom Securities saying improved macro conditions and stronger second-quarter earnings momentum are supporting the recovery.