South Korean shares rally on benign US inflation, SK Hynix surges 13%

HANMI Semiconductor

15/07/2026 04:30

KOSPI index rises 7.5%, most in five weeks
SK Hynix rises 13%, Samsung Electronics up 8%
Won drifts lower after touching a two-month high

    July 15 (Reuters) - Round-up of South Korean financial markets:
     
** South Korean shares rallied the most in nearly five weeks on Wednesday, boosted by a 13% surge in leading AI memory chipmaker SK Hynix 000660.KS after softer-than-expected U.S. inflation data lifted U.S. tech stocks.
** Upbeat analyst views on the outlook for AI memory demand also drove chip stocks higher, with Samsung Electronics 005930.KS advancing 8% and chip equipment maker Hanmi Semiconductor 042700.KS soaring more than 29%.
** The chip rally, led by bellwethers SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics, propelled the benchmark KOSPI index .KS11 more than 7% higher in its sharpest one-day gain since mid-June.
** During the session, gains triggered a "sidecar" trading curb, temporarily halting program trading.
** Overnight, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq advanced as solid big bank results and a cooler-than-expected inflation report boosted risk appetite. The Philadelphia SE semiconductor index .SOX added 2.5%.
** The rebound in KOSPI followed weeks of volatility in chip stocks as investors grappled with concerns about an earnings slowdown, spending by hyperscalers, and capacity expansion plans that could eventually ease memory supply issues.
** A rebalancing of foreign investors' positioning and the ballooning popularity of leveraged single-stock ETFs are also amplifying wild swings in chip stocks and the KOSPI, which has shed about 20% since its record closing high on June 22.
** "The recent share price pullback is more of a technical correction driven by market-wide profit-taking, and therefore represents a potential buying opportunity," Citi said in a note, adding it "remained constructive on the Korean memory space".
** Barclays initiated research coverage on SK Hynix's newly listed depository receipts on Nasdaq SKHY.O with an "overweight" rating and a $330 price target. The depository receipts closed 27% higher at $193.92 overnight.
** Elsewhere, Hyundai Motor 005380.KS and sister automaker Kia Corp 000270.KS were up 2.94% and up 4.08%, respectively. Steelmaker POSCO Holdings 005490.KS added 3.95%, while drugmaker Samsung BioLogics 207940.KS rose 3.29%.
** The won was quoted at 1,491.0 per dollar on the onshore settlement platform KRW=KFTC as of 0315 GMT, after touching a two-month high of 1,484.5 per dollar earlier in the day.
     
($1 = 1,489.3600 won)

 (Reporting by Sameer Manekar in Bengaluru; Editing by Sonia Cheema)
 ((Sameer.Manekar@thomsonreuters.com;))