Asahi shares mark weekly slide after cyberattack halts production
Investing.com-- South Korea’s benchmark stock index climbed to a fresh record on Thursday, driven by a surge in chipmaker stocks that offset worries over a rebound in inflation readings for September.
Shares of Samsung Electronics (KS:005930) jumped as much as 5%, hitting their highest levels since January 2021, while SK Hynix Inc (KS:000660) soared over 12% to an all-time peak.
Both signed letters of intent to supply memory chips to OpenAI for its data centres under the Stargate program. In addition to the chips for the Stargate project, OpenAI will also work with the two firms to build two data centers in South Korea.
The strong performance in these heavyweight technology names powered KOSPI higher by over 3% to a fresh record high of 3,565.96 points.
The rally came even as data showed South Korea’s consumer inflation accelerated in September, with the consumer price index (CPI) rising 2.1% year-on-year, slightly above the 2.0% forecast.
On a monthly basis, prices increased by 0.5%, rebounding from a 0.1% decline the previous month.
"Yet today’s inflation data is not likely to prompt any material change in the Bank of Korea’s policy easing stance," ING analysts said in a note.