stocks-summary

SEOUL, Oct. 28 (Yonhap) -- Seoul shares surged by more than 6 percent Wednesday, led by a rally in chipmakers after SK hynix reported record quarterly earnings and announced additional shareholder returns. The Korean won weakened against the U.S. dollar.

The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) gained 374.1 points, or 6.63 percent, to close at 6,012.44, after rising as high as 6,032.28.

As the market rallied on tech gains, the Korea Exchange activated a buy-side sidecar shortly before 11 a.m., suspending program trading buy orders for KOSPI-listed stocks for five minutes.

The measure is triggered when KOSPI 200 futures rise at least 5 percent and stay at that level for at least one minute. It was activated for the second straight session.

Earlier in the day, SK hynix reported record-high revenue and operating profit for the third quarter on robust memory chip demand amid the artificial intelligence (AI) boom. The world's second-largest memory chip maker announced a shareholder return program worth more than 100 trillion won (US$75.3 billion) for 2026.

Investors were also awaiting the Federal Reserve's interest rate decision scheduled for early Thursday (Korean time), looking for signals on the future path of U.S. interest rates.

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