South Korean shares climb over 2% as chipmakers rally

SEOUL: Round-up of South Korean financial markets:

South Korea stocks extend gains to sixth session on further US rate cut hopes

• South Korean shares jumped 2% on Thursday, as heavyweight chipmakers rallied after US peer Micron Technology posted strong quarterly earnings amid a solid demand for its memory chips. The won rose, while the benchmark bond yield was flat.

• The benchmark KOSPI was up 54.33 points, or 2.09%, at 2,650.65, as of 0219 GMT.

• Shares of chipmaker Samsung Electronics and peer SK Hynix led gains in the benchmark index with a jump of 3.8% and 8.8%, respectively.

• SK Hynix, which supplies Nvidia with high-end chips, said it started mass production of the most advanced high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips, pulling ahead in a race to meet demand from an artificial intelligence (AI) boom.

• Micron Technology on Wednesday forecast first-quarter results ahead of Wall Street estimates and reported fourth-quarter revenue growth that was the highest in more than a decade on the back of booming demand for its memory chips used in the AI industry. Shares of the US chipmaker surged during after-hour trade.

• A board member of South Korea’s central bank said on Thursday there was a need for continued coordination between monetary policy and macroprudential policy as government measures to curb household debt will take effect over a gradual timeline.

• Among other index heavyweights, automakers rose and e-commerce firms Naver and Kakao gained more than 1% each, although battery makers fell.

• Of the total 930 traded issues, 618 shares advanced, while 241 declined.

• Foreigners were net buyers of shares worth 351.5 billion won ($264.76 million), turning buyers for the first time in seven sessions.

• The won was quoted at 1,328.9 per dollar on the onshore settlement platform, 0.54% higher than its previous close at 1,336.1.

• The most liquid three-year Korean treasury bond yield fell 1.2 basis points to 2.806%, while the benchmark 10-year yield fell 0.2 basis point to 3.000%.