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Samsung lifts KOSPI as court curbs planned strike
South Korea’s Kospi rose 0.31% on May 18, rebounding from the previous session’s more than 6% drop as investors bought chip stocks including Samsung Electronics, while the won edged up against the US dollar.
The index opened lower and fell about 5% in early trading, triggering a five-minute sell-side sidecar.
It later turned positive after a court partially granted Samsung Electronics’s request to block a planned strike and wage talks resumed with its largest union.
Foreign investors sold a net 3.7 trillion won (US$2.45 billion) for an eighth straight session, while institutions and retail investors bought 1.4 trillion won (US$931 million) and 2.2 trillion won (US$1.48 billion).
Samsung up 3.88%, SK hynix up 1.15%, and Hyundai Motor down 5.29%.
🔗 Source: Yonhap
🧠 Food for thought
Implications, context, and why it matters.
Kospi swings after a steep run-up and heavy foreign selling
- The Kospi has turned choppy after climbing 82% since the start of the year, leaving it among the world’s most volatile major stock indexes 12.
- Overseas investors have locked in gains after the rally, with net outflows topping US$2.8 billion in one recent day 2.
- The pullback hits hard because Samsung Electronics and SK hynix, two memory chip makers, account for about half of the Kospi’s weighting 2.
- Foreign selling has also centered on Samsung Electronics, with net sales reaching 11.4 trillion won (US$7.63 billion) from May 7 to May 13 1.
A Samsung strike could hit South Korea’s economy
- The planned walkout carries national stakes because semiconductors make up 38% of South Korea’s total exports 3.
- Losses could reach 1 trillion won (US$671 million) a day. A longer disruption could also put Nvidia, the leading AI chip designer, at risk as a customer 3.
- South Korea’s labor minister can suspend industrial action for 30 days through an “emergency adjustment of industrial action” if a strike is likely to hurt the economy or disrupt daily life 3.
- South Korea has used this measure only four times, with the last case in 2005 3.
