South Korea's KOSPI is trying to reclaim the 7,000 level as caution over high interest rates collides with expectations for Samsung Electronics' (005930) preliminary third-quarter results due next week.
The index was swinging around the 6,960 level in morning trading on the 2nd, according to the Korea Exchange. It opened at 6,938.27, down 33.08 points, or 0.47%, from the previous session. After sliding to as low as 6,927 early in the session, the index turned higher around 9:23 a.m. and rose as much as 0.34% to 6,995.19. Retail investors were net buyers, while institutions and foreign investors were net sellers.
Samsung Electronics also oscillated between slight losses and slight gains. The company completed its purchase of 53.8 million treasury shares through the previous day, reaching a cumulative buyback rate of 100.96% since August and fulfilling the plan it had announced earlier.
SK hynix (000660) extended its gain to as much as 1.48% during the session before settling at around 0.5%. Foreign investors were net sellers of both stocks.
Analysts in the financial investment industry say selling tied to profit-taking, with investors watching U.S. Treasury yields ahead of the National Foundation Day holiday, is contending with buying in artificial intelligence and semiconductor shares after Micron's strong results on Wall Street overnight.
All three major U.S. indexes closed slightly higher overnight. The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Nasdaq each rose 0.04%, while the Standard & Poor's 500 gained 0.19%. The yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note climbed to 5.342% during the session, its highest since April 3, 2002, though dovish comments from a Federal Reserve official helped temper expectations for further rate increases.
AI and semiconductor shares advanced. Micron rose 3.03%, SK hynix's American depositary receipts gained 5.08% and SanDisk added 2.75%, while Nvidia climbed 1.09% and AMD rose 0.65%. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index was up 1.59%.
"If the U.S. employment report released on the 2nd confirms a slowdown in hiring, concerns about additional tightening are likely to ease and the burden from rates should lessen," said Lee Kyoung-min, an analyst at Daishin Securities (003540). "The tug-of-war between macro factors — oil prices, interest rates and monetary policy — and micro factors such as AI, the semiconductor cycle and earnings continues, but we are in a phase where the strength and influence of the micro side is gradually growing."
Han Ji-young, an analyst at Kiwoom Securities (039490), said share prices are likely to show limited upward momentum as some profit-taking emerges ahead of the U.S. September employment data and the domestic holiday. "Starting with Samsung Electronics' preliminary results next week, the third-quarter earnings season should support the view that the profit cycle remains intact, so it would be appropriate to prioritize a strategy of increasing exposure to the AI value chain," Han said.
The KOSDAQ broke above the 900 level during the session for the first time in about three months, since July 2 of this year. The index opened at 893.22, down 1.07 points, or 0.12%, from the previous session, but turned higher shortly after the open. Its intraday high was 903.88.
On the KOSDAQ, institutions were net buyers while retail and foreign investors were net sellers. Most of the market's largest stocks by market capitalization were higher, including Alteogen (196170), EcoPro (086520), EcoPro BM (247540), Jusung Engineering (036930) and Rainbow Robotics (277810).
