South Korea's KOSPI rises 5%, Japan and South Korea stock markets keep setting new highs

Asian stocks continued their strong performance on Monday, with the South Korean Kospi index rising more than 4% during the trading session and the Nikkei 225 index up by 1%, both setting new historical highs, driven by the sustained heating up of demand for artificial intelligence chips that has led to a surge in memory chip giant stocks.

The leading South Korean memory chip company, SK Hynix (000660.KS), experienced an intraday gain exceeding 10%, once again setting a historical high, while Samsung Electronics (005930.KS) saw an increase of more than 6%, matching a historical maximum record.

Market observers have noted that the ongoing expansion of data center capital expenditures by global technology giants has led to a robust demand for high bandwidth memory (HBM), from which SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics have benefited the most significantly. The Kospi has accumulated an increase of over 86% year-to-date, leading the main global indices.

"Profit-taking led by foreign capital has already emerged, but the uptrend is still ongoing," said analyst Lee Kyoung-min of Daejeon Securities.

The Nikkei 225 index also went up in tandem, with its recovery momentum supported by Japanese technology and semiconductor-related stocks. Previously, on May 7th, the Nikkei 225 broke through the 61,000 mark for the first time, setting a historical high with a nearly 4% gain on the day.

The market sentiment was also boosted by the easing of geopolitical risks. Signs of progress in Iran's nuclear negotiations reduced concerns over crude oil supply, further releasing the risk appetite in Asia.

Implied volatility in the derivatives market is rising in tandem with the spot market, displaying a rare pattern of "volatility rising with the index," with some strategists warning of short-term consolidation risks, but the mid-to-long-term uptrend remains unchanged.