Samsung Electronics (005930.KS) and SK hynix (000660.KS) both climbed more than 3% in premarket trading. The gains follow a one-day rebound on Wall Street, as U.S. Treasury yields fell back below 5% and oil prices steadied after the shock of the Federal Reserve's rate increase.
Samsung Electronics traded at 260,500 won as of 8 a.m. on the 18th, up 3.17% from the previous session, according to Nextrade. SK hynix traded at 1.805 million won, up 3.44%. Most other top market-cap stocks also advanced, including SK Square (402340.KS) at 3.08%, Samsung Electro-Mechanics (009150.KS) at 3.01%, Samsung C&T (028260.KS) at 2.39%, LG Energy Solution (373220.KS) at 1.37% and Hyundai Motor (005380.KS) at 1.24%.
The advance tracked overnight gains in U.S. equities. On the 17th, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 0.61% at 51,778.04, the Standard & Poor's 500 rose 1.14% to 7,637.76 and the Nasdaq Composite gained 1.69% to 26,418.30.
Stocks recovered within a day after tumbling the previous session, when the Fed raised its policy rate for the first time in three years and two months. The removal of uncertainty and bargain hunting drove the rebound. The yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note, which had topped 5% a day earlier, eased to 4.946%. West Texas Intermediate crude settled 0.51% lower at $101.91 a barrel as concerns over Saudi Arabian supply disruptions partly abated.
Chip stocks led the way. Intel surged 7.7%, while Micron rose 5.5% and Nvidia gained 2.5%. Analysts pointed to recent remarks by Intel Chief Executive Lip-Bu Tan forecasting a memory supply shortage next year.
Still, oil remains above $100 a barrel, and foreign investors sold a net 2.2 trillion won worth of shares on the KOSPI the previous day, extending a run of selling that traders cite as a drag on the market.
"Until last year, there were strong concerns that stock trends would be damaged if the U.S. 10-year yield rose above 4.5%, but the stock market has held up even as the yield crossed the 5.0% line several times this week," said Han Ji-young, an analyst at Kiwoom Securities. "The foreign investors' streak of net selling looks less like a fundamental problem and more like short-term risk management in response to macro uncertainty."
