South Korean shares rally 6% as SK Hynix beats forecasts

Round-up of South Korean financial markets:

South Korean shares rallied 6% on Wednesday, as chipmakers jumped after SK Hynix announced higher-than-expected third-quarter profit and forecast demand to remain robust.

The benchmark KOSPI was up 337.64 points, or 5.99%, at 5,975.98 as of 0140 GMT.

The index will post its biggest daily percentage rise since July 31, if the trend holds.

An AI-fueled tech rally sent US stocks to a higher close on Tuesday as third-quarter reporting season gained steam, while the Federal Reserve convened for its penultimate meeting of the year.

SK Hynix gained 8.20% after the chipmaker announced shareholder returns of about $75 billion and reported a more than seven-fold rise in quarterly profit as AI infrastructure continues to drive up memory chip prices.

Peer chipmaker Samsung Electronics rose 8.90%.

Among other index heavyweights, battery maker LG Energy Solution climbed 1.70%, while Hyundai Motor and sister automaker Kia Corp were up 3.27% and up 1.50%, respectively.

Steelmaker POSCO Holdings added 2.72%, while drugmaker Samsung BioLogics fell 0.36%. Of the total 913 traded issues, 620 shares advanced, while 257 declined.

Foreigners were net buyers of shares worth 589.1 billion won ($444.24 million).

The won was quoted at 1,335.7 per dollar on the onshore settlement platform, 0.64% lower than its previous close at 1,327.2.

In money and debt markets, December futures on three-year treasury bonds lost 0.05 point to 103.29.

The most liquid three-year Korean treasury bond yield fell by 2.2 basis points to 3.776%, while the benchmark 10-year yield rose by 2.8 basis points to 4.070%.