Ceasefire dawn ignites "Hallyu"! Leading the surge are the two giants in storage chips, causing the South Korean stock index to skyrocket nearly 10% and triggering a circuit breaker.

Notice that the two major storage chip giants have strongly driven the fierce rebound of the Korean stock market, mainly because the market's expectation that the Iran war may be nearing its end has completely rekindled global risk appetite, with global funds pouring into the stocks of the two major storage chip manufacturing giants in Korea that have been soaring since 2025 and repeatedly reaching historical highs. The Korean benchmark KOSPI index surged nearly 9%, with Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix both seeing their gains expand to over 13% and 11% respectively in afternoon trading, with the Korean Wave (K-Pop) once again sweeping through from the Seoul fashion circle to the global stock market. The small-cap index KOSDAQ also rose more than 6%, and the strong gains of the KOSPI and KOSDAQ indices at one point triggered a halt in program trading on the exchange (i.e. a circuit breaker). Eventually, by the close of the Korean stock market on Wednesday, the benchmark KOSPI index rose by 8.44%. Prior to this rise, the Korean stock market had experienced four consecutive days of declines, pushing the benchmark index to the brink of a bear market. After the U.S. and Iran sought to end weeks of military conflict, global markets collectively breathed a sigh of relief. Ha SeokKeun, Chief Investment Officer of Eugene Asset Management, attributed the rise of the Korean stock market to the "shift in global risk appetite driven by the rebound of U.S. stocks, with tech stocks leading the way in the Korean market." He added that a technical rebound resulting from short-term oversold conditions was also at play, triggering short covering and buying on dips. The double-digit rise in the stock prices of Samsung and SK Hynix boosted the KOSPI index Other positive factors in the market also came from data showing an increase in storage product prices in March, helping to confirm that the artificial intelligence trend is still on track. On Tuesday, Nvidia announced a plan to invest $2 billion in Meilai Technology, and OpenAI completed its largest funding round to date, which also boosted U.S. tech stocks. The Iran war caused severe fluctuations in the Korean stock market, turning it from the best-performing market in February to the worst-performing market in March. Concerns about war-related stagflation had previously hit tech stocks hard, and storage chip manufacturers were further affected by fears that Google's compression technology could weaken demand. The market still fluctuates with daily news, and uncertainty remains. U.S. President Trump is scheduled to speak on the war at 9 p.m. Washington time on Wednesday. Local funds are net buyers of KOSPI stocks, while foreign investors and retail investors are selling. Jung In Yun, CEO of Fibonacci Asset Management Global Corporation, said, "This is a good time for profit-taking for those who still believe that regional conflicts have not yet ended." He pointed out that there are still many surprises (or uncertainties), and energy prices may remain high by the end of the year.