KOSPI trade paused after chipmaker rally sparks over 5% jump

South Korea’s bourse operator on Thursday briefly halted trading in the benchmark KOSPI after the index surged over 5% at the open on a rally in chipmaking stocks.

The Korea Exchange activated a buy-side sidecar, suspending program trading for KOSPI-listed shares for five minutes shortly after the market opened, the bourse operator said in a statement.
The KOSPI surged over 5% on sharp gains in chipmaking majors Samsung Electronics Co Ltd (KS:005930) and SK Hynix Inc (KS:000660), which added 4.9% and 9.6%, respectively. The two surged tracking gains in Micron, after the American memory chips maker posted strong earnings and guidance overnight. 

Micron Technology Inc (NASDAQ:MU) surged over 13% in U.S. aftermarket trade. 

SK Hynix was among the best performers on the KOSPI after the memory chip maker on Wednesday outlined plans to raise $29.4 billion through a U.S. stock market listing, as the Nvidia supplier seeks to further capitalize on strong demand for AI-linked stocks.

Thursday’s gains saw the KOSPI recoup a bulk of its losses from earlier in the week. The index had slumped some 10% on Tuesday amid heavy losses in local chip stocks.