South Korean shares post best session in 7 months on AI, tax-cut optimism

Published on 11/10/2025 at 02:05 am EST

• KOSPI rises, foreigners net sellers
• Korean won strengthens against dollar
• South Korea benchmark bond yield rises

(Reuters) - Round-up of South Korean financial markets:
** South Korean shares jumped 3% on Monday and posted their biggest daily gain in seven months, underpinned by a rally among chipmakers on artificial intelligence-fuelled optimism and financial stocks on expectations of tax cuts.
** The benchmark KOSPI closed up 119.48 points, or 3.02%, at 4,073.24, marking its biggest daily percentage rise since April 10.
** Market optimism over AI was renewed after Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said on Saturday that the semiconductor giant is experiencing "very strong demand" for its state-of-the-art Blackwell chips.
** South Korea's presidential office and ruling Democratic Party suggested cutting dividend income taxes after a meeting on Sunday.
** In September, the government proposed in its annual tax code revisions to separately impose taxes on dividend income, at a maximum 35%, which investors said was too high.
** Chief of Staff Kang Hoon-sik said it was necessary to respond to various opinions being raised, while a party spokesperson said tax rules on dividend income needed to be "reasonable".
** "Market reforms of amending the Commercial Act, encouraging share repurchases and lowering taxes are a powerful push driving the domestic stock market higher in the mid-to-long term," said Park Kwang-nam, an analyst at Mirae Asset Securities.
** Chipmaker Samsung Electronics rose 2.76% and peer SK Hynix gained 4.48%, leading gains on the benchmark index.
** The financial sector rallied 4.02%, while securities firms surged 6.54%.
** Hanwha Ocean rose 2.21% after China suspended sanctions on the South Korean shipbuilder's U.S.-linked units for a year.
** Foreigners were net sellers of shares worth 154.2 billion won ($108.48 million).
** The won was quoted at 1,451.4 per dollar on the onshore settlement platform, 0.70% higher than its previous close at 1,461.5.
** The most liquid three-year Korean treasury bond yield fell by 0.9 basis point to 2.885%, while the benchmark 10-year yield rose by 2.3 basis points to 3.245%.
($1 = 1,421.4800 won)
(Reporting by Jihoon Lee; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)

Sumber : Reuters