South Korea’s Kospi set a new all-time intraday high on Tuesday, breaking the record it made in late February. The index then gave back some of those gains later in the morning as investors took profits.
The rally shows that investors are looking past the US-Iran war and focusing on strong memory chip earnings.
Samsung and SK Hynix drive the gains
The Kospi climbed as much as 2.2% to reach 6,355 in early trade on Tuesday. That topped the previous record peak of 6,347, which the benchmark had set on 27 February. The index later pared its advance, trading at 6,326, still up 1.73% on the day.
Samsung Electronics rose more than 2% and briefly touched 220,000 won, its highest level since February. SK Hynix jumped 3.86% to 1.21 million won and hit a new intraday record of 1.217 million. The chipmaker will report its first-quarter earnings on 23 April, a move that has fuelled strong buying interest.
AI infrastructure expansion is driving strong demand for high-performance memory chips across all major global markets. Supply shortages are also pushing up prices for standard memory products across the global industry this year.
Mixed picture across Asia
Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose more than 1% to trade near 59,500, led by technology and chip shares. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was little changed at 26,363, while Shanghai’s Composite slipped 0.15% on the day. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.29% in early trading, bucking the broader regional trend on Tuesday.
The US-Iran ceasefire deadline falls on Wednesday, with talks set to resume in Pakistan amid easing tensions.
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Source: https://beincrypto.com/kospi-hits-new-record-as-chip-stocks-rally-on-ai-demand/
