Global Market: South Korean shares rebound as chipmakers recover after five-day losing streak

The recovery in chipmakers followed a turnaround in US artificial intelligence semiconductor stocks on Wall Street.

The benchmark Kospi was up 44.63 points, or 0.74%, at 6,079.78 as of 0127 GMT, after gaining more than 2% earlier in the session. On Tuesday, the index plunged 5.5% to its lowest level since July 30.

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The recovery in chipmakers followed a turnaround in US artificial intelligence semiconductor stocks on Wall Street, encouraging investors to buy shares that had fallen sharply in recent sessions.

Recent declines in semiconductor stocks appeared excessive in the absence of a significant deterioration in earnings expectations, the report stated, citing Seo Sang-young, an analyst at Mirae Asset Securities.

Samsung Electronics rose 1.72%, while SK Hynix gained 1.04%. Both stocks had advanced more than 3% earlier in the session.

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Among other heavyweight stocks, battery maker LG Energy Solution climbed 2.07%, while Hyundai Motor gained 0.63% and Kia Corp advanced 1.20%. Steelmaker POSCO Holdings added 2.51%, while drugmaker Samsung BioLogics fell 1.66%.

Market breadth remained positive, with 534 stocks advancing and 327 declining among the 912 issues traded.

Foreign investors, however, remained net sellers, offloading shares worth 168.9 billion won ($126.05 million).

In the currency market, the South Korean won strengthened slightly to 1,340.9 per dollar on the onshore settlement platform, up 0.04% from Tuesday's close of 1,341.5.

South Korean government bond futures also weakened. December futures on three-year Treasury bonds fell 0.06 point to 102.92.

In the cash bond market, the yield on the most liquid three-year Korean Treasury bond rose 2.9 basis points to 3.879%, while the benchmark 10-year yield edged up 0.3 basis points to 4.255%.