KOSPI tumbles then rebounds as Samsung, SK Hynix rally

South Korea’s KOSPI fell sharply on June 8 and recovered 8.18% on June 9. Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, which together account for roughly 40% of the index, led the rebound.

Samsung dropped 10.2% on June 8 and regained about 9% on June 9. SK Hynix fell 7.7% before jumping 16.01% the next day.

The bounce followed gains in major U.S. chip stocks and a rise in the Nasdaq overnight. Intel and Micron were among the U.S. chipmakers that posted gains, supporting sentiment for memory and AI-focused semiconductor shares.

The pullback started on June 4, when the Nasdaq plunged 4.18% after Broadcom issued weaker-than-expected guidance for AI chips. Early in June the KOSPI briefly triggered a market circuit breaker as U.S. chip sentiment amplified moves because of the index’s heavy weighting in memory manufacturers.

Chaiwon Lee, chair of Life Asset Management, attributed the overshoot to single-stock leveraged exchange-traded funds that track Samsung and SK Hynix. He said traders were likely to “take a breather” ahead of U.S. inflation data, a Federal Reserve meeting and the planned SpaceX listing on June 11.

Mandy Xu, head of derivatives market research at Cboe, wrote that the sell-off was “mostly a positioning-driven unwind at the sector level” after heavy long exposure in chips. Jim Reid, global head of macro research at Deutsche Bank, observed that “the AI trade has continued to bounce back.”

Jensen Huang, Nvidia’s chief executive, spoke in Seoul after meeting with SK Group and said AI infrastructure buildout is “just beginning,” and described recent dips in tech stocks as a “buying opportunity.”

The KOSPI has nearly doubled since January, driven by gains in semiconductor and AI-related stocks. Traders will monitor U.S. consumer price index data due June 10 and the Federal Reserve meeting for signals that could affect market sentiment.