Japan, South Korea Stocks Open Lower and Rise, Nikkei Continues to Hit New Highs, Kospi Rises Over 1.5%, SK Hynix Gains Nearly 6%

TradingKey - During the Asian trading session on June 17, Japanese and South Korean stock markets both opened lower but moved higher. The Nikkei 225 Index extended its strong performance, hitting another record closing high, while South Korea's KOSPI Index rebounded strongly after opening significantly lower, posting a substantial gain at the close.

[Source: TradingView]

The Nikkei 225 Index opened at 69,005.88 points on the day, down 1.14% from the previous trading day. After the opening, the index fluctuated upward, with gains expanding further in the afternoon, finally closing at 69,902.03 points, up 0.72%, setting a new record closing high. During intraday trading, the Nikkei 225 Index briefly touched 70,115.75 points, with a maximum intraday gain of 1%. The TOPIX Index rose about 0.55% on the day to close at 4,013.23 points.

In terms of sector performance, the machinery sector led the gains, with Japan Steel Works rising 7.07% and Kawasaki Heavy Industries up 7.75%. Among individual stocks, Lasertec closed up 13.16%, showing particularly outstanding performance, while SoftBank Group fell over 3%.

Market analysts believe that expectations of the end of the US-Iran conflict, combined with falling crude oil prices, eased market worries about inflation and economic slowdown, boosting investor risk appetite. Despite the index opening sharply lower, buyers continued to enter the market during the session, pushing the Nikkei 225 Index to close higher for five consecutive trading days.

[Source: TradingView]

South Korea's KOSPI Index opened at 8,622.13 points on the day, down 1.2% from the previous trading day. Thereafter, driven by continuous buying from investors, the index's losses gradually narrowed and eventually turned positive, closing up 1.58% at 8,864.24 points.

Large-cap semiconductor stocks performed weakly in early trading, with Samsung Electronics falling more than 3% at one point during the session and SK Hynix also dropping significantly. However, both later reversed to close stronger, with Samsung Electronics closing up 1.02% at 346,500 won and SK Hynix closing up 5.84% at 2,521,000 won.

On the news front, Samsung Electronics' foundry business received positive news on the day. According to media reports, as TSMC ( TSM )'s advanced process capacity remains tight, Google ( GOOGL ), AMD ( AMD ), Tesla ( TSLA) and BYD, among other companies, are accelerating their efforts to seek advanced process foundry partnerships with Samsung. Industry insiders pointed out that although Samsung still lags behind TSMC in terms of yield, its available capacity advantage is making it a highly attractive alternative.

Overall, the Nikkei 225 Index consolidated and gathered momentum near the key 70,000-point psychological level, briefly breaking above it intraday to hit another record closing high, with a clear upward trend. On the other hand, South Korea's KOSPI demonstrated strong resilience under the impact of external negative factors, staging a powerful rebound after a lower opening to close with a gain of over 1.5%, indicating that the battle between bulls and bears remains intense.