U.S. President Donald Trump announced that starting next month on the 1st, he would impose a 25% reciprocal tariff on Korean products. Despite a second quarter "performance shock" for Samsung Electronics, the domestic stock market showed strong performance. The KOSPI index closed at 3110 points, while the KOSDAQ index, which had fallen during the session, successfully rebounded.
On the 8th, the KOSPI index closed at 3114.95, up 55.48 points (1.81%) from the previous trading day. The KOSPI index opened that morning at 3071.74, up 12.27 points (0.40%), and at one point reached 3115.
The rise in the KOSPI index was led by foreign and institutional investors. Foreign investors purchased 249.5 billion won and institutions bought 22.6 billion won, while individuals sold a net 261.9 billion won.
Before the market opened that day, there was tension surrounding two negative factors. President Trump sent a trade letter to Korea, and Samsung Electronics announced its second-quarter performance.
U.S. President Donald Trump sent a letter to President Lee Jae-myung stating that starting next month on the 1st, a 25% reciprocal tariff would be imposed on all products exported from Korea to the United States. Samsung Electronics announced that it recorded 74 trillion won in consolidated revenue and 4.6 trillion won in operating profit for the second quarter, a decrease of 55.9% compared to the same period last year.
Both issues contained content that could negatively impact the stock market, but the market seems to have interpreted them as an alleviation of uncertainty.
Researcher Kim Ji-won at KB Securities said, "Trump's tariff letter is interpreted as a process for trade negotiations, leading to improved investor sentiment." He added, "Since the tariff rates announced last April will be applied as they are, it can be interpreted that the negotiation deadline has been effectively extended, and there is a positive perspective that the pace of negotiations is likely to accelerate."
The top market capitalization stocks generally closed higher. Although Samsung Electronics finished down 0.49%, it announced a stock buyback worth 3.9 trillion won following its performance announcement, successfully defending the '60,000-coin' level.
Researcher Lee Jae-won at Shinhan Investment & Securities said, "Samsung Electronics' stock showed a stable downward trend," and he explained, "The increase in shareholder value due to the stock buyback and the reflection of one-time provisions and expectations for improvement in the second half have been factored in."
Samsung Biologics and LG Energy Solution closed down 1% and 2%, respectively, while SK hynix, KB Financial, Hyundai Motors, and Doosan Enerbility finished higher.
This researcher noted that "the market's focus is expected to return to corporate performance before the 1st of next month, and attention should be paid to sectors that surpass performance expectations and undervalued sectors."
The KOSDAQ index closed at 784.24, up 5.78 points (0.74%) from the previous trading day. The KOSDAQ index dipped slightly after opening but successfully rebounded.
That day, the KOSDAQ index was led by individuals and foreigners. Individuals and foreigners had net purchases of 73 billion won and 35.8 billion won, respectively, while institutions sold a net 112.4 billion won.
The KOSDAQ index performed poorly compared to the KOSPI index. Researcher Kim explained, "The concentration of large-cap stocks led to relatively poor performance for the KOSDAQ index."
Meanwhile, among KOSDAQ-listed companies, PharmaResearch hit an all-time high during the session upon news that it would withdraw its spin-off. PharmaResearch closed at 588,000 won, up 13.73% (71,000 won) from the previous session.
In the Seoul foreign exchange market, as of 3:30 p.m., the won-dollar exchange rate recorded 1,367.9 won, up 0.1 won from the previous day.