Japan, South Korea Stocks Close Higher; Nikkei 225 Gains Over 2% as Samsung, SK Hynix Slip

TradingKey - On August 10, Japanese and South Korean stock markets closed higher. SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics slipped slightly, Kioxia rose 0.59%, and SoftBank fell over 1%.

The Nikkei 225 Index closed up 2.08% at 66,970.22 points; the South Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 0.65% to close at 6,299.66 points.

South Korea's KOSPI index rose more than 2% at one point during morning trading, and the tech-heavy KOSDAQ index even triggered a "Sidecar" mechanism, prompting the Korea Exchange to suspend program buy orders. Subsequently, the KOSPI's gains gradually faded, turning down by as much as 0.42% in the afternoon to hit a low of 6,232 points, before recovering losses to ultimately close higher.

Source: TradingView

Among individual stocks, SK Hynix closed down 0.14% at 1,420,000 won (approx. $1,001); Samsung Electronics fell 0.43% to close at 230,000 won.

Kioxia rose 0.59% to 48,010 yen (approx. $303), while SoftBank Group fell 1.22% to 5,484 yen.

According to South Korean media reports, SK Hynix is considering launching a shareholder return plan worth about 100 trillion won, under which share buybacks could reach approximately 40 trillion won, representing over 2% of the company's total outstanding shares. If implemented, the scale of this plan would be significantly higher than the company's previous shareholder return levels.

By comparison, SK Hynix's combined cash dividends and share cancellations last year totaled about 14.3 trillion won. The substantial expansion of this potential buyback program means the company may further boost its capital returns, and it is also expected to improve investor expectations regarding the company's valuation and long-term holding value.

Meanwhile, the overall rebound in Japanese and South Korean stock markets was also driven by the strength of US stocks last week. The latest US non-farm payrolls data came in below market expectations, reinforcing investor bets on further interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve, and all three major US stock indexes posted solid gains last week.