The Seoul stock market closed higher on Friday, driven by good market expectations for South Korea's two leading chip companies, Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix's large-scale shareholder return plans; the won appreciated against the US dollar. The Korea Composite Stock Price Index closed up 60.37 points, or 0.88%, to 6912.95 points, hitting an intraday high of 6954.12 points. Retail and foreign investors both had net sales, with a total net sale of 1.34 trillion won; institutional investors made net purchases of 248.2 billion won. Li Qingmin, an analyst at Daxin Securities, said, “The shareholder return plan launched by SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics supports the domestic stock market and overcomes the negative effects of various external uncertainties.” SK Hynix announced a shareholder return plan on Wednesday and plans to repurchase common shares worth approximately KRW 40 trillion. Market capitalization leader Samsung Electronics is also expected to announce shareholder return plans of up to 110 trillion won later in the day. Samsung Electronics rose 3.87% to 281,500 won; rival SK Hynix rose 2.31% to 1730,000 won.

The Seoul stock market closed higher on Friday, driven by good market expectations for South Korea's two leading chip companies, Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix's large-scale shareholder return plans; the won appreciated against the US dollar. The Korea Composite Stock Price Index closed up 60.37 points, or 0.88%, to 6912.95 points, hitting an intraday high of 6954.12 points. Retail and foreign investors both had net sales, with a total net sale of 1.34 trillion won; institutional investors made net purchases of 248.2 billion won. Li Qingmin, an analyst at Daxin Securities, said, “The shareholder return plan launched by SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics supports the domestic stock market and overcomes the negative effects of various external uncertainties.” SK Hynix announced a shareholder return plan on Wednesday and plans to repurchase common shares worth approximately KRW 40 trillion. Market capitalization leader Samsung Electronics is also expected to announce shareholder return plans of up to 110 trillion won later in the day. Samsung Electronics rose 3.87% to 281,500 won; rival SK Hynix rose 2.31% to 1730,000 won.