[Good Morning Market] U.S. Tech Stocks Rally... KOSPI Expected to Rise Led by Semiconductors

There is an outlook that the upward trend in the domestic stock market will continue, as buying in U.S. technology stocks and earnings momentum for domestic semiconductor companies persist.

On the 25th, the KOSPI index surpassed the 6,000 mark for the first time in history in early trading, as domestic market indices were displayed at the Korea Exchange in Yeouido, Seoul. Samsung Electronics, which topped 200,000 won that day, and SK Hynix, which topped 1,000,000 won, also opened higher. 2026.2.25 Kang Jinhyeong, Reporter

On the 25th (local time), on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 49,482.15, up 307.65 points (0.63%) from the previous session. The S&P 500 Index ended at 6,946.13, up 56.06 points (0.81%), and the Nasdaq Composite Index closed at 23,152.08, up 288.40 points (1.26%).

This was driven by bargain-hunting inflows centered on technology stocks. The phase of weakened investor sentiment toward tech stocks, which had been caused by so-called artificial intelligence (AI) fear reports from certain foreign research houses, has eased. The day before, Anthropic mentioned partnerships with some software companies, alleviating concerns that AI would erode the existing software industry. As a result, by sector, IT (0.8%), financials (1.7%), and communication services (1.0%) delivered the highest returns, and IGV (iShares Expanded Tech-Software Sector ETF), a leading U.S. software exchange-traded fund (ETF), also rose 3.1%.

Expectations for Nvidia's earnings announcement also fueled buying in technology stocks. In the fourth quarter of last year, Nvidia's revenue came in at 68.13 billion dollars, significantly beating the consensus forecast of 66.2 billion dollars. Earnings per share (EPS) were 1.62 dollars, exceeding the forecast of 1.53 dollars. Accordingly, revenue guidance for the first quarter of this year is expected to reach 78 billion dollars, a record high on a quarterly basis. With this earnings release reaffirming that the AI industry expansion cycle is continuing, Nvidia's share price rose by more than 2% in after-hours trading.

On this day, the KOSPI is expected to maintain its upward momentum even as profit-taking sentiment widens following the index's break above the 6,000 level. This is because the rise in the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (1.6%) the previous day and Nvidia's strong earnings have reaffirmed that the AI industry is in an expansion phase. Analysts note that Nvidia's strong performance can spill over to large domestic memory semiconductor companies, suggesting further upside potential for the domestic stock market based on earnings momentum.

Since the beginning of this year, the KOSPI has risen 44.4%, breaking through the 6,000 level at the previous day's closing price. By sector, securities (75.8%) and semiconductors (64.3%) showed particularly strong gains. These were mainly driven, respectively, by domestic government policy support and an AI-driven memory super cycle.

The previous day, the third amendment to the Commercial Act, which includes measures to mandate the retirement of treasury shares, passed the plenary session of the National Assembly, and this may trigger some profit-taking in financial and holding company stocks. Following the passage of the third Commercial Act amendment, subsequent governance policies such as the so-called stock-price suppression prevention law and regulatory guidelines on multiple listings are expected to be pursued consistently.

Lee Sunghoon, a researcher at Kiwoom Securities, said, "Not only the strength of technology stocks, but also the possibility that follow-up market-boosting and normalization policies will continue to be implemented in the future, leads us to judge that the re-rating phase of the domestic stock market can continue."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.