The opening market conditions for the KOSPI and KOSDAQ are displayed on an electronic board in the dealing room of Hana Bank in Jung-gu, Seoul, on the morning of the 29th. News1
Buying interest spread to the secondary battery sector on the Seoul stock market Wednesday, as artificial intelligence (AI) chip stocks underwent a sharp correction. Leading names including LG Energy Solution (373220.KS), Ecopro and Ecopro BM posted double-digit gains.
According to the Korea Exchange, the KOSPI stood at 8,242.20 as of 1:29 p.m. Wednesday, down 171.42 points, or 2.04%, from the previous trading day. Foreign investors led the decline with net selling of about 5.7413 trillion won, while individuals net bought 3.8319 trillion won and institutions net bought 1.7572 trillion won.
The KOSDAQ, by contrast, rose 60.08 points, or 7.06%, to 911.45. Institutions net bought 446.1 billion won, while individuals and foreigners net sold 409.7 billion won and 33.5 billion won, respectively.
The previously sluggish secondary battery sector stood out with gains in the day’s market. LG Energy Solution, a top KOSPI market-cap stock, traded at 395,000 won, up 19.16%. Samsung SDI (9.89%) and POSCO Future M (14.32%) also rose in unison. On the KOSDAQ market, Ecopro surged 23.17% to 117,500 won, and Ecopro BM gained 16.31% to 155,500 won.
Beyond secondary batteries, buying interest spread across growth stocks broadly. Alteogen rose 8.30%, LigaChem Biosciences 14.07%, and HLB 4.82%. Rainbow Robotics (5.42%) and Jusung Engineering (7.55%) also showed strength.
Chips and large technology stocks, on the other hand, could not avoid weakness. Samsung Electronics (005930.KS) traded at 318,500 won, down 6.19%, and SK hynix (000660.KS) fell 4.38% to 2,556,000 won. Top market-cap stocks including SK Square (-5.00%), Samsung Life Insurance (-5.78%) and Samsung C&T (-6.17%) also declined.
Analysts said a rotation is underway, with buying interest flowing into sectors that had fallen sharply, while stocks that had risen significantly around AI chips undergo a correction. Kang Jin-hyuk, a researcher at Shinhan Securities, said, “As the weakness in U.S. chip stocks and the correction in domestic chip stocks ease the concentration, a sector rotation is playing out and individual bargain-hunting is flowing in, narrowing the declines. With expectations for earnings improvement centered on energy storage systems (ESS) to resolve AI infrastructure bottlenecks dovetailing with the previously vacant supply-demand conditions, the secondary battery sector is supporting the index.”
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