SK hynix bucks AI sell-off after scrapping Solidigm IPO review

SK hynix defied a market-wide sell-off of artificial intelligence (AI) stocks on Friday, helping to lift the benchmark KOSPI index following the company's announcement that it had dropped its review of a potential U.S. listing for Solidigm, its NAND flash memory subsidiary. SK hynix's shares closed at 1,277,000 won, up 4.42 percent, while Samsung Electronics ticked up 0.47 percent to 215,500 won.

The KOSPI had initially struggled after a sharp decline in AI-related stocks on Wall Street overnight, with the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index falling 6.72 percent, driven by significant losses across Nvidia, Micron, SanDisk, and Intel.

The Korean benchmark index had plummeted more than 4 percent in early trading, briefly touching the 5,300 level before rebounding strongly and ending the session up 0.3 percent at 5,550.30. Some retail and institutional investors' buying helped counterbalance the net selling pressure from foreign investors, who collectively unloaded about 1 trillion won worth of shares on a net basis. Retail and institutional investors managed to purchase a net 52 billion won and 872 billion won worth of shares, respectively.