Korea's Stock Market 'Fear Index' Hits Record High Amid Institutional Buying Surge; KOSPI Rebounds

On November 9, VKOSPI, South Korea's volatility index, surged over 19% to mark an all-time high. Driven by aggressive stock purchases from institutional investors, the KOSPI index rebounded with a gain of over 8%. The KOSPI closed at 8,096.93, up 612.52 points (8.18%) from the previous session, recording its largest-ever daily jump. The KOSPI reached a session high of 8,119.09. The KOSPI 200 Volatility Index (VKOSPI) closed at 91.23, up 19.04% from the prior day, hitting a record closing high.

Institutions led the index's rebound with net purchases totaling 2.5042 trillion won. Financial investment institutions, in particular, were net buyers of 1.8669 trillion won. Retail investors sold a net 616.9 billion won, and foreign investors continued their selling spree for the 22nd consecutive trading day with net sales of 1.9850 trillion won.

The rally was influenced by a strong performance in U.S. semiconductor stocks overnight and a perceived easing of geopolitical risks. A temporary suspension of program trading orders (circuit breakers) was activated early in the session for both the KOSPI and KOSDAQ markets. Buying interest emerged at lower prices as negative factors that had caused sharp declines eased or resolved. Large-cap semiconductor stocks, which had seen excessive declines, led the gains. In the U.S. market, continued confidence in the AI investment cycle fueled buying in the semiconductor sector, while the cessation of military conflict between Iran and Israel led to stable oil prices, positively impacting the stock market.

SK Hynix, a leading semiconductor stock, closed at 2.215 million won, up 15.91%, and reached an intraday high of 2.226 million won. SK Hynix's market capitalization briefly reached $104.2 billion that day, rising two spots to 14th globally and rejoining the $1 trillion market cap club, surpassing Walmart and Eli Lilly. Samsung Electronics also finished the session up 8.97% at 322,000 won, hitting an intraday peak of 324,000 won. Among other top market capitalization stocks, SK Square (13.51%), Samsung Electro-Mechanics (18.39%), LG Energy Solution (2.06%), and Samsung Life Insurance (4.66%) closed higher. Hyundai Motor remained unchanged, while HD Hyundai Heavy Industries (-1.45%) and Hyundai Mobis (-2.78%) saw declines. LG Electronics (-7.46%), which had garnered attention for its collaboration news with Nvidia, and Naver (-7.89%) also fell. By sector, electrical and electronics (11.12%), medical and precision instruments (10.88%), and manufacturing (9.31%) led the gains, while IT services (-2.79%) and telecommunications (-0.13%) lagged behind.

The KOSDAQ market also showed strong performance, closing at 967.81, up 56.42 points (6.19%) from the previous trading day. The index, which opened at 937.69, rose to an intraday high of 981.24. On the KOSDAQ, 1,435 stocks advanced and 258 declined. Foreign investors were net buyers on the KOSDAQ for the second consecutive day with 308.9 billion won, and institutions also contributed to the index's rise with net purchases of 200.9 billion won. Retail investors sold a net 511.8 billion won. Alteogen, the KOSDAQ's largest market cap stock, surged 12.78% after announcing it received a notice of allowance for its self-developed substance from the European Patent Office. Ecopro BM (4.95%), Ecopro (2.09%), Rainbow Robotics (2.13%), and Jusung Engineering (4.87%) also rose. Fadu (-3.19%), SPG (-0.10%), and L&C BIO (-6.85%) closed lower.

The trading volume on the KOSPI market on this day was 46.4723 trillion won. The KOSDAQ market recorded a trading volume of 10.2126 trillion won. The total trading volume for the alternative trading exchange Nextrade's pre-market and main market was 27.9908 trillion won.