Boosted by a sharp rebound in US semiconductor stocks, South Korea's KOSPI index surged 13% in early trading on Friday, triggering a "buy side mechanism" (i.e., a suspension of programmatic buying orders). The benchmark index later extended its gains to 15%, with chip giants Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix rising 21% and 26% respectively. Kim Juyeon, a researcher at Mirae Asset Securities, stated, "The catalyst for today's rally came from Microsoft's earnings report released after the market closed the previous day. Its core business growth exceeded expectations, validating the rationale for its expanding capital expenditures, thus alleviating market concerns about the sustainability of AI infrastructure investment, becoming the trigger for the sector rebound centered on semiconductor stocks." Furthermore, the market interprets this as the near completion of hedge fund liquidations that had previously exacerbated the downward pressure on the stock market, with the deleveraging process essentially complete, leading to a recovery in investor sentiment. Han Jiyoung, a researcher at Kiwoom Securities, stated, "The recent plunge in semiconductor stocks was due to pressure from leveraged funds forced to sell due to losses, but with the liquidation of large hedge funds, market expectations for the near completion of deleveraging have increased, resulting in a significant rebound in semiconductor stocks such as Micron and SanDisk."
