Seoul stocks opened the week in the red on October 26, 2026. The Korea Composite Stock Price Index (Kospi) opened at 5,499.05, down 51.25 points or 0.92% from the previous session, according to Yonhap News Agency. The split inside the chip sector made the day interesting. Samsung Electronics slipped while SK hynix climbed, and the two companies report third-quarter earnings within 24 hours of each other later this week.
One headline version of the story, published by TradingKey and syndicated by MiTRADE, put Samsung Electronics down more than 1% and SK hynix up more than 2%. It added that Japan’s Kioxia rose 1.2% to 12,895 yen and SoftBank gained 1.22% to 4,328 yen. Other outlets tracking the same open printed smaller moves. This article sets out what each source reported, flags where the numbers disagree, and explains why memory-chip traders care so much about a gap of a few tenths of a percent.
The setup matters beyond Seoul. Memory prices drive what you pay for GPUs, SSDs, laptops and handhelds, and Korean chipmakers sit at the center of that supply chain. Our earlier look at how Micron’s $54.23B quarter set the tone for Korean chips covered the last leg of this story. Monday’s open is the next one.
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Kospi Opens Lower at 5,499.05 as Chip Stocks Split
The core facts are simple. Yonhap and the Korea JoongAng Daily both reported the Kospi opening at 5,499.05. Working backward from the 51.25-point drop, the previous close sits at 5,550.30, which is the level bulls need to reclaim to erase the open’s damage. Both outlets tied the soft start to investors waiting on semiconductor earnings and the U.S. Federal Reserve’s policy decision later in the week.
MoneyToday framed the session differently. Its headline described the Kospi as mixed in early trading amid a U.S. rate decision and a Q3 earnings “Super Week”. That word choice fits the tape. A 0.92% drop in the headline index sounds like a retreat, but the heaviest-weighted memory names did not move together. One of them fell, the other rose, and that internal disagreement is the real news.
Traders call this kind of open a “pre-earnings positioning” session, meaning prices move on what desks expect rather than on fresh information. No new company data landed on Monday morning. The next hard data points arrive on Wednesday and Thursday, so Monday’s price action mostly shows who feels comfortable holding risk into those reports.
What the Opening Numbers Show
The table below collects every figure reported for the October 26 open. Each row names the source and notes whether the number holds up against the others. Where outlets disagree, the more conservative figure is the one to lean on.
| Instrument | Reported move | Source | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kospi | Opened at 5,499.05, down 51.25 points (0.92%) | Yonhap, Korea JoongAng Daily | Confirmed across outlets |
| Samsung Electronics | Down 0.7% at 9:15 a.m. | Yonhap | Confirmed |
| Samsung Electronics | 214,250 won, down 1,250 won (0.58%) | Early-market report | Confirmed |
| Samsung Electronics | Down more than 1% | TradingKey, MiTRADE | Unconfirmed, larger than other outlets |
| SK hynix | Up 1.88% at 9:15 a.m. | Yonhap | Confirmed |
| SK hynix | 1,287,000 won, up 0.8% | Early-trading report | Confirmed |
| SK hynix | Up more than 2% | TradingKey, MiTRADE | Unconfirmed, larger than other outlets |
| Kioxia | Up 1.2% to 12,895 yen | TradingKey, MiTRADE | Unconfirmed |
| SoftBank | Up 1.22% to 4,328 yen | TradingKey, MiTRADE | Unconfirmed |
Two lessons come out of the table. First, direction is consistent everywhere: Samsung down, SK hynix up. Second, the magnitude depends on which minute of the session an outlet captured. Treat any single percentage as a snapshot, not a verdict.
Why the Reported Moves Do Not Match
The MiTRADE headline, “Kospi Opens Lower Under Pressure as Samsung Electronics Drops Over 1%; SK Hynix Surges More Than 2% as Kioxia and SoftBank Follow”, reads more dramatic than the Yonhap, Korea JoongAng Daily, MoneyToday and Aju Press figures. Yonhap’s 9:15 a.m. update had Samsung off 0.7% and SK hynix up 1.88%. Another early report had Samsung off just 0.58% and SK hynix up only 0.8%.
There are a few plausible reasons for the gap. Opening auctions often print the widest moves, and prices usually settle toward the middle within minutes. Different feeds also sample at different seconds. I cannot say which explanation applies here, because none of the outlets spelled out its timestamp method. What the data does let us say is that no source outside the TradingKey syndication confirmed a Samsung drop above 1% or an SK hynix rise above 2% in the figures we reviewed.
For readers, the practical rule is to compare like with like. A 9:15 a.m. Yonhap figure compares cleanly to another 9:15 a.m. figure. It does not compare to an opening-print number from a different feed. Anyone building a trading view from this morning’s headlines should check the timestamp before trusting the magnitude.
Samsung Electronics: Lagging Into Thursday’s Report
Samsung Electronics trades at 214,250 won in the early-market report, down 1,250 won from a previous close that works out to 215,500 won. Yonhap’s 0.7% decline at 9:15 a.m. means the stock fell less than the Kospi’s 0.92% opening drop in that snapshot. By the TradingKey numbers, it fell more than the index. That swing between “outperforming a down tape” and “underperforming it” is the sort of detail that shapes the narrative, even if the dollar value of the difference is small.
Samsung reports third-quarter earnings on October 29, 2026, a day after SK hynix. Because Samsung sells memory, foundry output, displays and consumer devices, its quarter is harder to read than a pure memory report. Investors will want to see how its memory division performed against its Korean rival and what management says about high-bandwidth memory, the stacked DRAM used in AI accelerators.
Being second to report carries its own pressure. SK hynix’s Wednesday release hands the market a template, and Samsung’s numbers then get graded against it. If SK hynix sets a high bar on pricing commentary, Samsung must clear the same bar or explain why not.
SK hynix: Holding Its AI-Memory Premium
SK hynix climbed 1.88% at 9:15 a.m. per Yonhap and traded at 1,287,000 won, up 0.8%, in another early-trading report. At roughly six times Samsung’s share price, the stock shows how differently Korean investors price the two companies. Share price alone says nothing about value, since the companies have different share counts, but the direction of travel tells you where fresh money wants to sit before earnings.
Reports tie SK hynix’s relative strength to its exposure to high-bandwidth memory demand from AI servers. The company reports on October 28, 2026, the first of the week’s two chipmaker earnings releases. Our coverage of Micron’s DRAM and HBM4 push into 400-layer NAND shows the same product cycle from the U.S. side: every major memory maker is pointing capital at HBM.
The risk of a stock rising into a report is simple. Expectations climb with the price. A strong number that merely matches elevated hopes can still produce a selloff, and that pattern shows up often in the semiconductor sector when a name rallies for several sessions before results.
Kioxia and SoftBank: The Japan Read-Through
TradingKey and MiTRADE extended the story to Tokyo. They reported Kioxia up 1.2% at 12,895 yen and SoftBank up 1.22% at 4,328 yen in early trading. These two figures sit in the unconfirmed column of our table, because the outlets we cross-checked focused on Seoul. Treat them as TradingKey’s numbers, not as independently verified prints.
The logic of the pairing still holds. Kioxia makes NAND flash, the storage memory inside SSDs, phones and data-center drives. SoftBank is a heavy investor in AI infrastructure and a bellwether for sentiment around AI spending. When both rise while Samsung slips, the message from that feed is that money rotated toward AI-linked memory and away from diversified electronics.
Storage demand deserves its own look. Our Western Digital deep dive covered 222 exabytes shipped on AI storage demand, and Kioxia sits in the same demand stream on the flash side. Strength in one storage name often lifts the others, so a rising Kioxia is not surprising when AI buildouts dominate the conversation.
Earnings Week Calendar: Oct. 28, Oct. 29 and the Fed
Korea JoongAng Daily and Yonhap both pointed to the same sequence of events. Investors await third-quarter earnings from SK hynix on October 28 and from Samsung Electronics on October 29, while the U.S. Federal Reserve’s policy decision lands later in the same week. The table lays out the schedule and what each event tests.
| Date | Event | What it tests |
|---|---|---|
| Oct. 26 | Kospi opens at 5,499.05, down 0.92% | Risk appetite going into the data |
| Oct. 28 | SK hynix Q3 earnings | HBM demand and memory pricing commentary |
| Oct. 29 | Samsung Electronics Q3 earnings | Memory division strength, HBM position against SK hynix |
| Later that week | U.S. Federal Reserve policy decision | Rate path and appetite for technology shares |
The Fed overlay raises the stakes. A rate decision can move growth-oriented sectors in either direction, and Korean chip stocks respond to U.S. technology sentiment with little delay. That overlap makes the week a stacked event risk rather than a pair of independent earnings reports. For wider context on how that same week looks for U.S. technology names, see our preview of Big Tech earnings on Oct. 28-29.
What Analysts Say About the Recent Selloff
We could not find an on-record quote from a named speaker in Monday’s opening-bell reports. The analyst comments below come from earlier coverage ahead of the earnings releases, and each links to its original source. They give the best available read on how Korean brokers frame the setup.
Kim Dong-won, head of research at KB Securities, argued that the recent steep declines in the two chipmakers are an excessive correction. In comments reported by The Korea Times, he said: “The recent sharp declines in Samsung Electronics and SK hynix are an excessive correction driven more by a lack of buying support in the Korean stock market and weakened investor sentiment than by a deterioration in fundamentals.”
Han Dong-hee, an analyst at SK Securities, pointed to the supply side in the same report. He said: “Despite the won’s appreciation, earnings forecasts for next year are being revised upward on expectations that the memory supply shortage will deepen more than previously anticipated and that prices of high-bandwidth memory will rise next year.”
Lee Jae-won, a researcher at Yuanta Securities Korea, struck a more cautious tone about market mechanics in an article from The Herald Business. His words: “Large-scale foreign selling appears to be subsiding, but there is no buyer to absorb it.”
Two more analysts, quoted in a separate Herald Business report, focused on pricing and flows. Kim Rok-ho of Hana Securities said: “Third-quarter DRAM prices came in better than expected, and the pace of price gains in the fourth quarter is also expected to be revised upward from earlier forecasts.” Cho Jun-ki of SK Securities added: “Given the nature of the correction now unfolding, what is needed right now is not so much earnings results but an end to selling pressure and the appearance of new buyers.”
Reading the Analyst Split
Put those five comments side by side and a pattern emerges. The fundamentals camp (Kim Dong-won, Han Dong-hee, Kim Rok-ho) says memory pricing and demand look healthy. The flows camp (Lee Jae-won, Cho Jun-ki) says it does not matter until selling stops and buyers return. Both can be right at once, and that is exactly the situation Monday’s open reflects.
This framing explains the Samsung and SK hynix gap. If the market is short of buyers, money flows first into the name with the clearest earnings story, which reports describe as SK hynix. Samsung, with a broader and less clear-cut mix, waits longer for a catalyst. Earnings on Wednesday and Thursday can break the logjam in either direction.
One caution: the quotes pre-date Monday’s trading, so they describe the backdrop and not the day’s price action. No analyst quoted here commented on the October 26 open itself. We include them because they show which arguments the earnings reports will settle.
Samsung vs SK hynix vs Kioxia vs Micron: Who Carries What Risk
Investors comparing the memory complex need to separate product exposure from price action. The table summarizes qualitative differences drawn from the reporting above and from each company’s public business lines. It contains no estimates or forecasts.
| Company | Main exposure | Oct. 26 reported move | Next catalyst |
|---|---|---|---|
| Samsung Electronics | DRAM, NAND, foundry, devices | Down 0.58% to 0.7% (outlets above 1% unconfirmed) | Q3 earnings, Oct. 29 |
| SK hynix | DRAM with heavy HBM weighting, per reports | Up 0.8% to 1.88% (above 2% unconfirmed) | Q3 earnings, Oct. 28 |
| Kioxia | NAND flash | Up 1.2% per TradingKey | Read-through from Seoul reports |
| SoftBank Group | AI infrastructure investing | Up 1.22% per TradingKey | Fed decision, AI sentiment |
| Micron | DRAM, HBM, NAND | Not part of the Seoul session | Sets the U.S. memory benchmark |
Micron is the useful outside reference. It does not trade in Seoul, yet its results and commentary shape how Korean desks price their local names. If you track the memory cycle, treat the four-company group as one connected market where a statement from any member can reset expectations for the rest.
Historical Context: Memory Stocks and Event Weeks
Memory has always been the most cyclical corner of the chip business. Supply expands, prices soften, producers cut output, and prices recover. Share prices tend to turn before the underlying numbers do, which is why investors argue about “the cycle” constantly and why a single earnings week can swing sentiment sharply.
What makes this period different is the AI layer. High-bandwidth memory grew from a niche product into a central supply constraint for AI accelerators. Our look at Nvidia trading under 17 times forward earnings shows how quickly sentiment on the AI-hardware trade can reprice, and Korean memory names ride the same sentiment wave because their biggest customers sit inside that ecosystem.
An important historical habit also applies here. When two direct rivals report back to back, the second reporter often moves more than the first, since the first sets the yardstick. Samsung reporting a day after SK hynix fits that pattern. I will not put a number on it, because nobody in our sources did, but the structure of the week makes it a reasonable thing to watch.
Market Impact for Hardware Buyers
Most readers do not trade Korean equities, but everyone who buys PCs, GPUs or SSDs pays the downstream cost of memory pricing. Kim Rok-ho’s comment that third-quarter DRAM prices beat expectations, and that fourth-quarter increases look set to be revised higher, points toward firmer component costs through the holiday buying season. Han Dong-hee’s expectation of a deeper supply shortage and rising HBM prices points the same way.
That does not mean retail prices jump overnight. Contract pricing for large buyers moves first, and consumer products follow with a lag shaped by inventory and promotions. If you are planning a build or an upgrade, our hardware section tracks pricing as it develops. The practical advice from the analyst view is modest: do not assume memory gets cheaper into year-end.
For the Korean market, the currency adds a wrinkle. Han Dong-hee’s reference to the won’s appreciation matters because a stronger won trims the local-currency value of dollar-denominated chip sales. His point was that upward earnings revisions are happening despite that headwind, which signals underlying demand strong enough to absorb it.
Five Predictions for the Week
These are my assessments, not forecasts from the companies or from any analyst quoted above. They rest on the reported setup and could prove wrong.
- SK hynix commentary will outweigh its headline figures. With HBM at the center of the investment case, the market will probe management language on HBM demand and pricing more than the quarterly total.
- Samsung will be judged against SK hynix on HBM. Reporting a day later means Samsung’s memory division inherits a scorecard, and any hint of narrowing the HBM gap will draw attention.
- The Fed decision will add volatility, not direction. Technology shares in Seoul track U.S. sentiment closely, so expect sharp intraday swings on the policy announcement regardless of the outcome.
- DRAM pricing talk will stay upbeat. Hana Securities’ view that fourth-quarter price gains get revised higher suggests management teams will echo firm pricing, which keeps component costs elevated for hardware buyers.
- The Samsung and SK hynix split will narrow after both report. Divergence on a pre-earnings Monday reflects uncertainty. Once both companies show their numbers, the stocks should trade more on shared sector news than on positioning.
The biggest risk to these views is a surprise in either report. A weak pricing outlook from SK hynix would hit the whole group, including the Japanese names, and could flip the first prediction on its head.
The Takeaway: A Split Open, Not a Verdict
The Kospi’s 0.92% slide to 5,499.05 grabbed the headline, but the chip split is what matters. Samsung drifted lower by roughly half a percent to 0.7% in the confirmed reports, while SK hynix rose between 0.8% and 1.88%. The larger moves in the TradingKey and MiTRADE version, along with the Kioxia and SoftBank gains, remain unconfirmed by the outlets we cross-checked.
Wednesday and Thursday will answer the questions that Monday could not. Until then, the safest reading is that investors are leaning toward the memory maker with the clearest AI exposure and waiting on the one with the broader mix. For hardware buyers, analysts’ comments about firm DRAM pricing deserve more attention than any single day’s percentage move.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where did the Kospi open on October 26, 2026?
The Kospi opened at 5,499.05, down 51.25 points or 0.92% from the previous session, according to Yonhap and the Korea JoongAng Daily.
Did Samsung Electronics fall more than 1%?
Only the TradingKey and MiTRADE version reported a drop above 1%. Yonhap had Samsung down 0.7% at 9:15 a.m., and another early report showed 214,250 won, down 0.58%. We treat the larger figure as unconfirmed.
How much did SK hynix rise?
Yonhap reported a 1.88% gain at 9:15 a.m., while another early report put SK hynix at 1,287,000 won, up 0.8%. A gain of more than 2% appears only in the TradingKey and MiTRADE coverage.
When do SK hynix and Samsung report third-quarter earnings?
SK hynix reports on October 28, 2026, and Samsung Electronics follows on October 29, 2026, based on reports from Yonhap and the Korea JoongAng Daily.
What happened to Kioxia and SoftBank?
TradingKey and MiTRADE reported Kioxia up 1.2% to 12,895 yen and SoftBank up 1.22% to 4,328 yen in early trading. Those figures are unconfirmed by the other outlets we reviewed.
Why does the Federal Reserve matter for Korean chip stocks?
Reports flagged the Fed’s policy decision later in the week as a key catalyst. Rate decisions shape appetite for growth and technology shares, and Korean chipmakers react quickly to U.S. sentiment.
Will memory-chip moves change hardware prices?
Share prices do not set retail prices directly. Analysts quoted above expect firm DRAM and HBM pricing, which supports higher component costs over time, though consumer prices lag contract pricing.
