Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang is moving Korea's stock market at will. Following a rally that lifted leading shares across the board the previous day, theme stocks diverged sharply on Tuesday depending on whether their Nvidia partnerships were substantive. Amid a flood of profit-taking and foreign net selling of 5.5 trillion won, the KOSPI sank to the 8,500 level, testing its downside support.
As of 1:10 p.m. on the 2nd, the KOSPI was down 184.40 points, or 2.10%, at 8,603.98. Foreign investors weighed heavily on the index with net selling of 5.565 trillion won, while retail investors bought 5.3461 trillion won and institutions 288.9 billion won, struggling to defend the floor. The KOSDAQ also fell 30.52 points, or 2.91%, to 1,019.51, continuing its battle to hold the 1,000 line.
Stocks that surged the previous day on Huang's remarks and news of Nvidia partnerships swung between heaven and hell on Tuesday. Naver (035420), which had widened losses to as much as 7% early in the session, reversed into positive territory in the afternoon as buying flowed in strongly, rising 0.37% from the previous trading day to 272,500 won. The move is interpreted as a response to Naver Cloud CEO Kim Yu-won's attendance at the Nvidia Cloud Partner Summit in Taiwan, where he officially announced a "Global AI Factory Construction Project" partnership with Nvidia.
SK Telecom (017670), cited as a key physical AI partner during Huang's Computex keynote the previous day, extended its strength for a second straight session, trading 13.37% higher at 127,200 won. NC (036570) also joined the thematic rally, climbing as much as 5.58% intraday on news that Co-CEO Kim Taek-jin would hold an unannounced meeting with Huang.
By contrast, stocks that had relied solely on "expectations around Jensen Huang's Korea visit" without fundamental backing are paying the price. Doosan (000150), which had soared the previous day on news that Huang would throw the ceremonial first pitch at a Doosan Bears baseball game, plunged 16.89% to 1,831,000 won. Elsewhere, bellwether Samsung Electronics gained 1.15%, holding up against the tide, but steep declines in leading shares that had surged the previous day — LG Innotek (-22.42%), Samsung SDS (-18.37%) and Samsung Electro-Mechanics (-11.97%) — entrenched downward pressure on the index.
