“Looks Like Today’s Our Day”: KOSPI Surges More Than 5% on Anthropic IPO Hopes and SK hynix Shareholder Returns

Anthropic IPO Hopes Lift Wall Street for Second Straight Day
SK hynix Announces Large-Scale Shareholder Returns; KOSPI Buy-Sidecar Triggered
Key Events Tomorrow: U.S. FOMC Meeting, Alphabet Earnings and More

On the 28th, as the KOSPI continued its strong run, breaking above the 5,900 mark intraday, the KOSPI, KOSDAQ and USD/KRW exchange rate were displayed on a screen in the dealing room at Hana Bank's headquarters in Jung-gu, Seoul. As of 9:02 a.m., the KOSPI opened at 5,763.85, up 125.51 points (2.23%) from the previous session, and continued to rise by around 5%. 2026.10.28 Photo by Cho Yongjun

The KOSPI surged more than 5%, buoyed by a second straight day of optimism over Anthropic’s IPO, SK hynix’s surprise earnings and its large-scale shareholder return plan. The KOSPI is attempting to hold above the 5,900 mark after a buy-sidecar, which temporarily halts buy orders, was triggered for the second consecutive day.

KOSPI Surges on Anthropic IPO Hopes, SK hynix Earnings and Shareholder Returns

The KOSPI opened at 5,763.85 on the 28th, up 2.23% from the previous trading session, and extended its gains to trade at 5,923.54 as of 10:02 a.m., up 5.06%. As the index soared, a buy-sidecar was triggered at around 9:54 a.m. The KOSPI also surged as much as 4.9% intraday the previous day, prompting a buy-sidecar. Its sharp rise on the 28th took it above the 5,900 mark for the first time in two weeks, since the 14th. The KOSDAQ opened at 756.90, up 1.76%, and was trading at 768.35 as of 10:04 a.m., up 3.30%.

Broad gains on Wall Street overnight also boosted the South Korean market. On the 27th local time, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.03% from the previous session. The S&P 500 gained 0.6%, while the Nasdaq Composite climbed 1.18%. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index surged 3.60%.

Expectations for investment in artificial intelligence (AI) revived as AI company Anthropic moved forward with plans for an IPO. News that Broadcom was arranging $63 billion in financing for semiconductor purchases added to the gains, lifting technology stocks. Broadcom said it would work with major financial firms to finance Anthropic’s purchase of high-performance semiconductors. Broadcom shares rose 4.00%, while AMD gained 5.45%, Micron rose 2.77% and SK hynix’s American depositary receipts climbed 1.92%.

SK hynix’s third-quarter results, which exceeded estimates, and its announcement of a large-scale shareholder return plan gave the KOSPI a further boost. The company reported third-quarter operating profit of 83.3338 trillion won, up 632.1% year over year and a record high for any quarter. The surprise result was 9% higher than the estimate of 76.2713 trillion won. SK hynix also announced an additional shareholder return plan worth 60 trillion won, including 14 trillion won in third-quarter cash dividends and 20 trillion won in share buybacks. SK hynix shares were trading at 1,429,000 won as of 10:10 a.m., up 6.56% from the previous session.

Samsung Electronics, which is due to report finalized third-quarter results on the 29th, also surged 6.87% to 237,250 won. The market expects Samsung Electronics to announce a large-scale shareholder return plan comparable to SK hynix’s. KB Securities estimated that Samsung Electronics could make additional shareholder returns totaling 80 trillion won, even excluding the 30 trillion won in cash dividends already confirmed for the third quarter.

Robot Stocks Surge on Madison Huang’s Visit to South Korea

In addition to SK hynix and Samsung Electronics, most of the largest companies by market capitalization surged, including SK Square (6.88%), Samsung Electro-Mechanics (8.33%), LG Energy Solution (1.96%), Hyundai Motor (3.44%), Samsung Life Insurance (8.82%), KB Financial Group (3.79%) and Samsung C&T (8.14%).

Most of the KOSDAQ’s largest companies by market capitalization also rose, including Alteogen (3.09%), EcoPro (3.43%), EcoPro BM (2.85%) and Jusung Engineering (4.92%). Rainbow Robotics surged 16.07% on news that Madison Huang, Nvidia senior director and eldest daughter of CEO Jensen Huang, would visit South Korea. Robotis (11.35%) and Doosan Robotics (8.48%) also gained on expectations that Madison Huang would expand physical AI collaboration in South Korea.

Analysts said the direction of U.S. monetary policy and earnings reports from big tech companies would be key events in determining whether the South Korean market can extend its gains. “The market will be watching the Federal Open Market Committee’s October meeting, scheduled for early tomorrow morning, as well as earnings from Alphabet and Microsoft,” said Han Ji-young, a researcher at Kiwoom Securities. “Changes in cash flow at Alphabet and Microsoft, in particular, will be important points to watch.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.