Kospi Closes at Record 8,801.49 After Wild 430-Point Swing

South Korea’s Kospi ended slightly higher on June 2 after a volatile session as the benchmark neared the 9,000 mark. It closed above 8,800 for the first time ever. AI and robotics stocks advanced ahead of Nvidia Chief Executive Officer Jensen Huang’s visit to South Korea.

The Kospi rose 13.11 points, or 0.15%, to 8,801.49. After opening 1.08% higher, the index climbed to 8,933 in early trading, then slid as low as 8,503 as profit-taking emerged ahead of 9,000. The intraday swing reached 430 points.

Foreign and institutional investors were on opposite sides of the market. Foreign investors were net sellers of 6.594 trillion won on the Kospi, while institutions were net buyers of 6.35 trillion won. Retail investors were also net buyers, purchasing a net 237 billion won.

Trading among the Kospi’s largest companies was mixed. Samsung Electronics rose 3.3%, lifting the stock to the 360,000-won range, while SK Hynix slipped 0.13%. Buying in Samsung appeared to accelerate after news that the company had become the first in the industry to supply samples of seventh-generation HBM4E.

According to industry sources, Samsung Electronics began supplying HBM4E samples to customers on May 29. With rivals still going through customer validation for HBM4, Samsung appears to have moved first in supplying HBM4E after leading mass production of commercial HBM4 products.

Expectations for cooperation with Nvidia during Huang’s visit lifted Doosan Robotics 20.45%, NC 14.38%, SK Telecom 11.59%, Naver 3.31% and LG Electronics 3.15%. Stocks that had recently surged came under pressure, with LG Innotek down 18.17%, Samsung SDS off 16.99%, LG falling 15.56%, Doosan losing 12.94% and Samsung Electro-Mechanics dropping 9.58%.

The Kosdaq fell for a fifth straight session. The index lost 24 points, or 2.29%, to 1,026.03. Retail investors were net sellers of 409 billion won on the Kosdaq, while foreign and institutional investors were net buyers of 311 billion won and 129 billion won, respectively.

Robotics stocks also gained on the Kosdaq. Robostar hit the daily price limit, while Yuil Robotics rose 12.86% and Clobot added 5.45%. Olix fell 9.72%, Samchundang Pharm dropped 7.5% and Hyundai Movex lost 7.38%.

The won-dollar exchange rate rose by more than 10 won. In Seoul trading, the won closed at 1,516.4 per dollar, up 12.1 won from the previous session.

Noh Jeong-dong, Hankyung.com reporter, dong2@hankyung.com