An employee walks past an electronic display board in the trading room of Hana Bank in central Seoul, on Sept. 22.NEWS1
Korean shares extended their winning streak to a third session Tuesday as investors scooped up major semiconductor stocks, tracking an overnight rally on Wall Street amid renewed optimism over AI. The won strengthened against the dollar.
The benchmark Kospi gained 10.19 points, or 0.15 percent, to close at 7,017.91, after rising as high as 7,171.44.
After opening more than 2 percent higher, the Kospi pared its earlier gains as individual and institutional investors sold tech heavyweights to lock in profits.
On Monday, U.S. stocks rallied, with the Nasdaq Composite rising 2.3 percent to a record high. The S&P 500 gained 1.5 percent, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.7 percent.
Investor sentiment improved sharply, backed by a broad rally in AI-related stocks, falling oil prices and softening U.S. Treasury yields.
"Meta's new AI agent, MUSE, ranked No. 1 on the U.S. App Store, raising expectations that the spread of AI agents will drive demand for CPUs and servers," Lee Kyung-min, an analyst at Daishin Securities, said. "This also strengthened investor sentiment toward the domestic AI semiconductor value chain."
Lee, however, said the Kospi pared most of its earlier gains after a rebound following its recent sharp decline, resulting in a weaker finish after a strong opening.
Trade volume was light at 251.65 million shares worth 22.2 trillion won ($16.3 billion), with decliners outnumbering advancers 462 to 382.
Individuals and Institutions sold a net 1.6 trillion won and 121.8 billion won, respectively, while foreigners scooped up 76.2 billion won.
Samsung Electronics headquarters in Suwon, Gyeonggi, on July 30YONHAP
Market heavyweights closed mixed.
Market bellwether Samsung Electronics rose 0.91 percent to 276,500 won, while its chip rival SK hynix fell 1.5 percent to 1.84 million won after opening higher.
SK Square, the parent company of SK hynix, edged up 0.53 percent to 1.13 million won.
The won strengthened 72 won against the dollar from the previous stock market session's close to trade at 1,358.2 won against the dollar.
Bond prices, which move inversely to yields, closed higher. The yield on three-year Treasurys fell 1.6 basis points to 4.04, and the return on the benchmark five-year government bonds moved down 0.8 basis points to 4.267.
