South Korea's KOSPI jumps over 15% on AI‑chip rally FAST-MOVING
On 31 July 2024 the South Korean benchmark KOSPI index surged between 14 % and 17 % in a single session, the largest intraday gain on record. Memory‑chip makers SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics led the rally, with SK Hynix shares climbing roughly 25‑27 % and Samsung Electronics gaining about 20‑25 % on the day. The spike was sparked by strong fourth‑quarter earnings from U.S. cloud giants Microsoft and Amazon, which revived confidence in artificial‑intelligence‑related chip demand. Foreign investors were a major driver, net buying several trillion won of Korean equities, prompting the Korea Exchange to activate buy‑side sidecar trading halts on both the KOSPI and KOSDAQ markets. In parallel, Japanese and Korean foreign‑exchange authorities intervened in the yen market; the Japanese yen weakened to roughly ¥160 per dollar after the coordinated action, while the Bank of Japan kept its policy rate unchanged. The rally helped erase most of July’s earlier losses, but analysts note that the market remains volatile and that the sharp bounce reflects a rapid shift in sentiment toward AI‑related technology stocks.
Entities: Amazon.com Inc · Japanese yen · KOSDAQ · KOSPI · KOSPI index · Korea Exchange · Microsoft · Microsoft Corp · Microsoft Corp. · SK Hynix · SK Hynix · SK Hynix Co Ltd
Claims
What the coverage asserts, and how well corroborated each claim is across sources.
- [○ 1 SOURCE] A 2× leveraged ETF tracking SK Hynix posted an intraday return of over 55%.
- [○ 1 SOURCE] KOSPI opened at 5,657.79 and rose to about 6,386 by mid‑day.
- [● 2 SOURCES] Foreign investors net bought about 3.2 trillion won of Korean stocks on that day.
- [○ 1 SOURCE] Domestic institutional investors net sold roughly 2.1 trillion won while individuals net sold about 2.37 trillion won.
- [● 2 SOURCES] The Korea Exchange activated a buy‑side sidecar halt on both the KOSPI and KOSDAQ markets.
- [○ 1 SOURCE] KOSPI rose 12.82% to 6,310.50 on the morning of 31 March, recovering above the 6,300 level. (b7876aa8-82a8-4f8b-aeca-baf63d50d794)
- [● 2 SOURCES] SK Hynix shares jumped between 22% and 27% during the rally.
- [● 2 SOURCES] Samsung Electronics shares rose roughly 20% in early trading.
- [● 9 SOURCES] The KOSPI index rose more than 12% on July 31, 2026. (clm_17c909ff)
- [● 2 SOURCES] Domestic institutional investors net sold roughly 2.1 trillion won, while individual investors net sold about 2.3–2.4 trillion won. (b7876aa8-82a8-4f8b-aeca-baf63d50d794, 71b79d9c-05db-4ba6-9d3d-95956527cfa9)
- [● 7 SOURCES] Foreign investors net bought around 3.2–3.5 trillion won of Korean equities during the session. (multiple articles)
- [● 7 SOURCES] The Korea Exchange activated buy‑side sidecar trading halts on the KOSPI and KOSDAQ markets. (clm_07223905)