South Korea’s Kospi index recorded its largest single-day gain ever on July 31, surging 17.91% in one session, surpassing even the 11.95% rebound seen during the October 2008 global financial crisis. Samsung Electronics rose 26.81% and SK Hynix gained 29.95%, with these two semiconductor stocks shifting from being the drivers of July’s crash to powering the rebound. The catalyst for this reversal came from Amazon’s quarterly results showing AWS cloud revenue jumped 37% to $42.2 billion, reassuring markets about the strength of AI chip demand. Foreign investors bought 7,220 billion won (approximately $5 billion) net on that session alone, ending a month of uninterrupted net selling, while retail investors sold a record 8,250 billion won. The Korean market remains under pressure, as 1.2 million accounts received margin calls in the same month, reflecting the massive leverage that characterizes this exchange.
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