SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won (front row, center), SK hynix CEO Kwak Noh-jung and other officials wave and cheer at the “opening bell” ceremony marking SK hynix’s American Depositary Receipt (ADR) listing, held at the Nasdaq MarketSite in Times Square, New York, on the 10th (local time). Photo courtesy of SK hynix YouTube capture
American depositary receipts (ADRs) of SK hynix (000660.KS) rose about 13% on their first day of trading, leading a broad advance across the New York stock market.
On the 10th, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 52,637.01, up 149.60 points (0.29%) from the previous session. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index ended at 7,575.39, up 31.75 points (0.42%), while the Nasdaq Composite Index rose 74.72 points (0.29%) to close at 26,281.61.
Among the top technology stocks by market capitalization, Nvidia rose 4.03%, while Microsoft (0.19%), Meta (5.97%), and Tesla (0.30%) also gained. Apple (-0.28%), Amazon (-0.69%), Google parent Alphabet (-0.48%), SpaceX (-4.51%), and Broadcom (-0.28%) declined despite the rising market.
The day’s gains in New York were led by SK hynix, which entered the Nasdaq market through its ADR listing. SK hynix began trading at $170 and closed at $168.49. That is 13.08% higher than the offering price of $149. SK hynix at one point surged to $177 during the session, reflecting strong investor interest. The closing price of the SK hynix ADR came to about 2.528 million won at the current won-dollar exchange rate, roughly 16% higher than the previous day’s closing price of 2.18 million won for its common shares on the Korean stock market.
Nvidia, a key partner of SK hynix, also surged more than 4% on expectations of continued demand for artificial intelligence (AI) chips. Meanwhile, Micron, a competitor to SK hynix in high-bandwidth memory (HBM), fell 1.24%. Meta jumped as expectations of cost savings from developing its own custom chips coincided with favorable reviews of a new AI model.
Developments in the Middle East did not provide much support to the market as the United States and Iran maintained their standoff. President Trump posted on his social networking service Truth Social, writing, “Iran asked us to continue talks and we agreed,” while also stating, “The United States has firmly told Iran that the ceasefire has ended.” This is interpreted as formalizing remarks Trump made while attending the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) summit held in Ankara, Turkey, on the 7th and 8th. Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, the parliamentary speaker who led the negotiations between the two countries, pushed back, saying, “While it is clear that ending the war is the top priority, this conflict will never end with Iran’s surrender.” However, U.S. online outlet Axios reported that the two countries would hold additional negotiations in Switzerland next week, leaving room for dialogue.
With the war-ending negotiations at an impasse, international oil prices fell slightly. Brent crude futures for September delivery on London’s ICE Futures Exchange and West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures for August delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange closed at $76.01 and $71.41 per barrel, down 0.38% and 0.93% respectively from the previous session.
