South Korea's KOSPI surges 4.1% as chip stocks recover

South Korea's KOSPI surges 4.1% as chip stocks recover The KOSPI gained more than 330 points moments after trading began on Wednesday (Jun 24), instantly recouping a massive chunk of the losses from a nearly 10 per cent plunge a day earlier. SEOUL: South Korea's KOSPI staged a sharp recovery on Wednesday (Jun 24) morning, surging 4.1 per cent in the first 30 minutes of trading after a nearly 10 per cent plunge a day earlier, as retail investors rushed to buy the dip. The KOSPI gained more than 330 points to 8,550.21 only moments after trading began at 12am GMT (8am, Singapore time), with SK Hynix gaining 5 per cent and market bellwether Samsung Electronics jumping more than 9 per cent. The rebound instantly recouped a massive chunk of the previous session's double-digit losses as retail investors flooded the order books, said Seo Sang-young, a strategist at Mirae Asset Securities Co. "Retail investors going into leveraged ETFs is what is driving this volatility, as many were waiting for chances to go into the market out of FOMO (Fear of missing out)," Seo said. "More volatilities are ahead, as Micron is due to report earnings soon while the US is waiting for inflation and jobs data." Hyundai Motor and sister automaker Kia Corp were up 1.66 per cent and 1.97 per cent, respectively. Steelmaker POSCO Holdings added 0.93 per cent, while drugmaker Samsung BioLogics rose 2.04 per cent. The KOSPI has risen 102.96 per cent so far this year. The won has weakened 6.2 per cent against the dollar so far this year. In money and debt markets, September futures on 3-year treasury bonds lost 0.04 points to 102.99. The most liquid 3-year Korean treasury bond yield rose by 1.1 basis points to 3.783 per cent, while the benchmark 10-year yield rose by 0.6 basis points to 4.184 per cent. Foreigners were net sellers of shares worth 626.3 billion won.