Samsung jumps 5.67%, then KOSPI erases the gain a day later

Samsung Electronics shares rose 5.67% on October 21, closing at 223,500 won against 211,500 won a session earlier. It was the stock’s largest one-day gain since September 7, when it climbed 5.68%, 27 sessions before.

The lift did not last. The KOSPI, Korea’s main index, gave back its whole October 21 advance the next day. Korean outlets linked the reversal to the end of large share purchases in the two big chipmakers. Samsung’s own filed repurchase program, however, still runs until November 21.

A rally across the market, then a reversal

Samsung did not rise alone. The KOSPI gained 3.29% on October 21 to close at 5,735.66. Foreign investors made net purchases of 652.7 billion won (about US$493 million) of KOSPI shares that day, a market-wide figure covering all listed stocks, not Samsung alone. Their daily flows often swing the Korean market.

On October 22 the index fell 3.52% to 5,533.77. It edged up 0.3% on October 23 to 5,550.3, still below where it ended on October 21.

Samsung’s weight makes its moves hard to separate from the index. The company was 29.84% of the KOSPI 200’s market value on October 23, one of the reasons the KOSPI swings so sharply.

Two reports on chip share purchases

On October 21, Maeil Business Newspaper reported that a 40 trillion won purchase of shares involving SK hynix had ended that day, after one involving Samsung Electronics. The report did not make clear who had been doing the purchasing.

Two days later, Chosunbiz reported that Korean stocks had dropped sharply as the chipmakers’ repurchases came to an end, and that traders were looking to SK hynix and Samsung for the market’s next direction. That is the outlet’s reading of the slide. Neither company has confirmed it as a cause.

Samsung’s own filing points to a longer window. On August 21 it announced a repurchase of 53,285,968 common shares worth about 15 trillion won (14,999,999,992,000 won), to be used for employee stock compensation. The filed purchase period runs from August 24 to November 21, 2026. Samsung has not said how many of those shares it has acquired so far.

⤢

Still well below late September

Samsung closed at 215,500 won (US$162.69 at 1,324.6 won per dollar) on October 23, up 0.47% on the day. That left it 1.89% above its October 20 close over several sessions, or 2.16% in dollar terms.

The bounce sits inside a steep decline. From September 29 to October 23 the stock lost 20.92% in won and 19.0% in dollars, a stretch that included a 9.48% drop on October 15.

Samsung holds its third-quarter earnings conference call on October 29 at 10:00 KST. Its preliminary figures, filed October 8, showed operating profit of 107.4 trillion won on revenue of 195 trillion won, the highest quarterly operating profit in at least six quarters.

---

Information only, not investment advice.