Japan and South Korea Stocks Open Lower and Rise: Samsung and SoftBank Continue Supporting Market, SK Hynix and Kioxia Plunge

TradingKey - Japanese and South Korean stocks opened lower but rallied, with the KOSPI Index and the Nikkei 225 edging higher. Samsung Electronics and SoftBank continued to strengthen, while SK Hynix and Kioxia fell.

During the Asian session on July 13, both Japanese and South Korean stock markets opened lower but subsequently rebounded to move higher. The Nikkei 225 Index rose 0.65%, briefly breaking through 69,000 points to temporarily trade at 69,006.12 points, while South Korea's KOSPI Index gained 0.47% to break through 7,500 points, temporarily standing at 7,511.30 points.

Nikkei 225 Index chart, Source: TradingView

Despite memory giant SK Hynix's newly issued ADRs delivering a stellar performance during their Nasdaq debut last Friday, the stock was pressured at today's open by domestic profit-taking and risk-off capital in South Korea. SK Hynix plunged 4.27% at the open, temporarily trading at 2,087,000 KRW. Other heavyweight stocks saw mixed performance, with Samsung Electronics rising 1.58% to 289,500 KRW, SoftBank advancing 2.04% to 6,500 JPY, and Kioxia falling 1.36% to 75,950 JPY.

The cautious sentiment at today's open was primarily because the market is holding its breath for a series of major tests slated for this week, including the latest U.S. inflation data, geopolitical developments in the Middle East, and the upcoming earnings reports from chip giant ASML ( ASML) and TSMC ( TSM )'s upcoming earnings reports. These factors prompted institutional capital in the Japanese and South Korean markets to adopt a relatively defensive stance at Monday's open.