Kospi closes nearly 1% higher ahead of Nvidia earnings release

Stocks closed nearly 1 percent higher on Wednesday, boosted by stock repurchases from the country’s chip giants and easing external conditions, as investors waited for Nvidia’s earnings release. The won strengthened against the dollar.

The Kospi closed up 65.47 points, or 0.97 percent, to 6,808.21.

Trade volume was moderate at 323.3 million shares worth 22.38 trillion won ($16.2 billion). Winners outnumbered losers 584 to 273.

The index continued choppy trading in the early hours but gained ground as institutional investors purchased a net 760.37 billion won.

Foreign and retail investors were net sellers, off-loading a combined 2.36 trillion won.

“The Kospi recovered above the 6,800 mark, supported by stock repurchases, and a drop in global oil prices and U.S. Treasury yields helped boost investor sentiment,” Lee Kyoung-min, an analyst at Daishin Securities, said.

Chipmaker SK hynix has been carrying out a stock buyback of around 650,000 shares since last Thursday, along with Samsung Electronics this week.

Investors are also closely following Nvidia’s upcoming earnings release, set to act as a vital barometer for the global AI infrastructure market.

Market top caps ended mixed.

Samsung Electronics added 1.75 percent to 261,500 won, and its industry rival SK hynix inched up 0.6 percent to 1,688,000 won.

Automaker Hyundai Motor fell 3.09 percent to 408,000 won, and defense firm Hanwha Aerospace slid 1.36 percent to 1,087,000 won. Major financial firm KB Financial inched up 0.12 percent to 166,600 won.

Shares in the nuclear sector gathered ground on reports that the U.S. government has proposed that Korea jointly acquire shares in Westinghouse Electric, a nuclear company owned by a Canadian private equity.

The local currency strengthened by 1.3 won from the previous session to trade at 1,384.8 against the dollar as of 3:30 p.m.

Yonhap