South Korea's KOSPI benchmark closed at 8,788.38 on Monday, gaining 312.23 points (+3.68%) to set another all-time closing high, as Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang opened his first-ever Korea Partner Night in Taipei—a prelude to his Seoul meetings scheduled around June 5—sending semiconductor and AI-adjacent stocks into a frenzy.
Samsung Electronics led the advance, surging 10.9% to ₩349,000—its largest single-day gain since the October 2025 rally—after Huang convened a private dinner with executives including Samsung Electronics Executive Vice President of Memory Business Kim Jae-june and SK hynix CEO Kwak Noh-jung. LG Electronics struck its daily upper limit of ₩380,500—the exchange's 30% circuit-breaker cap—while Hyundai Motor added 3.73% to retake the No. 4 spot in KOSPI market capitalization.
The index broke 8,800 intraday for the first time in its history, leaving it roughly 211 points—or 2.4%—below the closely watched 9,000 threshold.
ETF Flows Amplify the Move
Single-stock leveraged ETFs tracking Samsung and SK hynix alone turned over ₩9.05 trillion, driving institutional net purchases to ₩2.53 trillion. Yet foreign investors extended their selling streak, shedding a net ₩2.92 trillion for the 17th consecutive session.
Market breadth remained deeply bifurcated: only 183 of the roughly 915 listed stocks advanced while 732 declined. "The index is on an upward trajectory, but declining stocks far exceed advancing ones, so deepening market concentration warrants monitoring," said Baek Young-chan, equity strategist at Sangsangin Securities.
Buy the Order Book, Not the Photo
Kim Doo-eon of Hana Securities, who named Samsung Electronics and SK hynix as the primary beneficiaries of the Huang visit, counselled discipline: "Buy the Jensen Huang event, but buy the order book, not the photo." The analyst tied the thesis to hard supply-chain arithmetic: Nvidia's forthcoming Rubin AI accelerator will intensify demand for high-bandwidth memory, and Samsung and SK hynix hold the two deepest HBM production lines globally.
Historical precedent supports the call. When Huang's prior Korea visit was announced last October, SK hynix surged 22% over two weeks, Samsung Electronics gained 6.3%, and Hyundai Motor added 9.1%.
According to Seoul Economic Daily, Huang is expected in Seoul around June 5 for meetings with LG Group Chairman Koo Kwang-mo, Naver Chairman Lee Hae-jin, Hyundai Executive Chairman Euisun Chung, and SK Group Chairman Tae-won Choi—spanning Physical AI applications in manufacturing, logistics, and mobility.
NPS Crosses ₩1,900 Trillion
Adding a structural backstop, the National Pension Service confirmed its fund crossed ₩1,900 trillion, posting a 25% year-to-date return—roughly ₩360 trillion in 2026 management gains. At that scale, the NPS is positioned as a natural buyer during any near-term pullback driven by the narrowing breadth.
The KOSPI has now gained 28% in May alone, following a 31% surge in April—its fastest two-month advance in recorded history. Analysts highlight June 11 (quadruple witching day) and the June 18 U.S. FOMC meeting as the next potential volatility catalysts.
Sources
- Seoul Economic Daily — KOSPI Nears 9,000 as Retail ETF Buying Fuels Samsung, SK hynix Rally (June 1, 2026)
- Seoul Economic Daily — Samsung, SK hynix to Be Top Winners of Jensen Huang's Korea Visit: Hana Securities (June 1, 2026)
- Seoul Economic Daily — Jensen Huang to Meet Korea's Top 4 Conglomerates on AI Chips, Robotics (May 31, 2026)
- Korea Times — Korean tech leaders discuss cooperation with Nvidia at COMPUTEX 2026 (June 1, 2026)
