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Markets

Seoul Stocks Close Nearly 1% Higher on Chip Buybacks Ahead of Nvidia Earnings

Seoul stocks rose nearly 1% on chip buybacks and easing conditions, with investors awaiting Nvidia earnings; won movement reported inconsistently.

AI News Feed · 2026-08-26 17:33

The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 65.47 points, or 0.97 percent, to close at 6,808.21. Trade volume was moderate at 323.3 million shares worth 22.38 trillion won (US$16.15 billion). Winners outnumbered losers 584 to 273.

The index traded choppily in early hours but gained ground as institutional investors turned net buyers, purchasing a net 760.37 billion won. Foreign and retail investors were net sellers, offloading a combined 2.36 trillion won.

"The KOSPI has recovered above the 6,800 mark, supported by stock repurchases, while a drop in global oil prices and U.S. Treasury yields helped boost investor sentiment," Lee Kyoung-min, an analyst at Daishin Securities, told Yonhap.

Chip giant SK hynix has been carrying out a stock buyback of around 650,000 shares since last Thursday, alongside Samsung Electronics this week. Investors are closely tracking Nvidia's upcoming earnings, expected to serve as a key barometer for the global artificial intelligence infrastructure market.

Top-cap stocks ended mixed. Samsung Electronics added 1.75 percent to 261,500 won, while SK hynix inched up 0.6 percent to 1,688,000 won. Hyundai Motor fell 3.09 percent to 408,000 won, Hanwha Aerospace slid 1.36 percent to 1,087,000 won, and KB Financial edged up 0.12 percent to 166,600 won.

Shares in the nuclear sector gained ground on reports that the U.S. government has proposed South Korea jointly acquire shares in Westinghouse Electric Corp., a nuclear company owned by a Canadian private equity firm.

The Korean won was quoted at 1,384.8 won against the U.S. dollar as of 3:30 p.m. One Yonhap report said the won rose 1.3 won from the previous session, while another said it fell 1.3 won. The discrepancy remained unresolved in the dispatches.

Bond prices, which move inversely to yields, closed higher. The yield on three-year Treasurys fell 1.4 basis points to 3.816 percent, and the return on benchmark five-year government bonds inched down 0.6 percentage point to 4.033 percent.

Traders also positioned cautiously ahead of the Bank of Korea's rate decision on Thursday. In July, the BOK raised its benchmark rate by 0.25 percentage point to 2.75 percent, its first hike in 3 1/2 years, and has stressed its commitment to curbing inflation, leaving the door open for a back-to-back hike.