A session opening driven by semiconductors
The Seoul stock exchange opened Wednesday's session sharply higher, following the gains recorded overnight on Wall Street. According to The Korea Herald, at 9:15 local time the benchmark Kospi index was up 183.73 points, or 3.26%, at 5,822.07. The move extends the previous session's rally, which closed with an increase of more than 3%.
The SK hynix figures and Wall Street's boost
The rise is underpinned by SK hynix's quarterly results, released before the opening: the memory maker reported third-quarter operating profit up 631% to 83.33 trillion won ($62.78 billion), with sales up 327.9% to 104.61 trillion won, supported by demand for artificial intelligence chips. The company also announced an additional shareholder remuneration plan worth 60 trillion won.
On the U.S. side, the Nasdaq Composite gained 1.18% and the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index 3.6%, indications that the source describes as positive for Korean chipmakers. The picture remains conditioned, however, by the wait for the Federal Reserve's rate decision, scheduled for Thursday, from which investors expect signals on the future path of U.S. monetary policy.
Stocks on the move and the exchange rate
Among the market heavyweights, Samsung Electronics rose 4.5% and SK hynix 2.39%. SK Square, the parent company of SK hynix, climbed 4.59%, while Samsung Electro-Mechanics, the group's affiliate in the electronic components sector, gained 4.5%. On the currency market, the won was trading at 1,327.1 per dollar, down slightly by 0.1 won from the previous session's close.
The performance of the session after the open and the actual impact of the Fed decision on Asian markets remain to be verified: the available material captures only the initial phase of trading and operators' expectations, not their outcomes.
