Taiwan's Taiex rose 10% and South Korea's Kospi gained 4.56% in the week ended Friday, Nov. 13, recovering part of the prior week's rout in Asia's two chip-heavy markets. The Taiex closed at 43,675.12, up 3,973.48 points from 39,701.64 on Nov. 6, according to Taiwan Stock Exchange data. The Kospi finished at 5,290.53, up 230.84 points from 5,059.69, Yonhap figures carried by The Korea Herald and Korea JoongAng Daily showed. RTHK, citing news agencies, also put the Kospi's weekly gain at 4.56%.

The two markets parted ways on the last day. Taipei rose 1.35% on Friday and drew net foreign buying. Seoul opened 2.05% higher, touched 5,504.44, then turned negative around 12:35 p.m. and closed down 0.98% as overseas funds sold. For regional investors, that split is the detail to carry into the new week: foreign money returned to Taiwan just as it left Korea.

Taiex and TSMC: four gains in five sessions

Taiwan's week began with a 4.94% jump on Monday, the index's second-largest one-day point gain, after the committee overseeing the National Financial Stabilization Fund authorized market intervention on Nov. 6, Taiwan's Central News Agency (CNA) reported. It was the 10th such authorization since the fund was set up in 2000. Gains of 2.52% on Tuesday and 3.62% on Wednesday followed, before a 2.63% drop on Thursday.

Friday's rebound added 583.25 points on turnover of NT$916.26 billion (US$27.79 billion), CNA said.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC), which CNA says accounts for more than 40% of the market's value, closed Friday at NT$2,350, up NT$10 on the day. That compares with NT$2,135 a week earlier, a weekly gain of 10.1%, based on exchange data. Smaller chip names moved more. MediaTek rose 7% on Friday to NT$4,120 and ended the week 21.5% higher. ASE Technology gained 13.5% over the five sessions to NT$598, Delta Electronics 17.5% to NT$1,240 and Hon Hai Precision Industry 7.3% to NT$241.

The index is still well short of its high. Before Monday's rally the Taiex had fallen 20.55% from an intraday peak of 49,968.92 on Oct. 6, according to CNA. That slide included heavy foreign selling in October.

Foreign investor flows: buyers in Taipei, sellers in Seoul

Foreign institutional investors were net sellers of Taiwan shares on each of the first four days: NT$90.06 billion on Monday, NT$34.12 billion on Tuesday, NT$766.44 million on Wednesday and NT$684.50 million on Thursday, CNA reported, citing the exchange. They had also sold a net NT$91.19 billion on Nov. 6.

The selling stopped on Friday, when foreign investors bought a net NT$28.84 billion, Taiwan Stock Exchange figures showed. For the full week they were still net sellers of NT$96.79 billion. Local investment trusts, the exchange's term for domestic mutual funds, bought a net NT$111.90 billion over the same five days, more than offsetting the foreign selling.

Korea's pattern ran the other way. Foreigners bought a net 365.9 billion won on Tuesday, 655.26 billion won on Wednesday and 370.4 billion won on Thursday, about 1.39 trillion won over three sessions, according to Yonhap. On Friday they sold a net 550.5 billion won, while institutions bought 2.3 billion won and individuals 17.2 billion won.

“Kospi started higher but turned negative due to foreign sell-offs,” Lee Kyoung-min of Daishin Securities told Yonhap. Yonhap linked Friday's caution to the departure of Nvidia Chief Executive Jensen Huang, whose company has close business ties with Korean technology firms.

Kospi and Kosdaq: Samsung holds weekly gain

The Kospi's week was built on two sessions. It fell 0.81% on Monday to 5,018.85, jumped 4.39% on Tuesday and 2.6% on Wednesday to 5,375.36, then slipped 0.61% on Thursday and 0.98% on Friday. Capital Times covered Tuesday's move when foreign buyers returned.

Samsung Electronics lost 0.96% on Friday to 206,000 won, still 8.5% above Monday's close of 189,900 won. SK hynix sank 3.03% to about 1.2 million won, against 1,136,000 won on Monday. Naver fell 5.12% and Korea Electric Power plunged 9.79%. Hyundai Motor rose 1.13% and KB Financial Group jumped 4.74%. Advancers edged decliners 450 to 418, and Yonhap described volume as light at 16 trillion won ($11.9 billion). The won was quoted at 1,336.7 per dollar at 3:30 p.m., 6 won weaker than the previous session.

At Friday's close the Kospi stood about 42% below its record closing high of 9,114.55, set in late June, according to the peak cited by Korea JoongAng Daily.

The junior Kosdaq market started the week in worse shape. It closed Monday at 638.97, down 47.9% from its April 27 closing high of 1,226.18 and less than 12 points above its December 2024 low, The Korea Herald reported, citing Korea Exchange data.

The coming week

Policy is one thing to watch in Seoul. At a capital market meeting chaired by President Lee Jae Myung at the Korea Exchange on Friday, Financial Services Commission Chairman Lee Eog-weon cautioned against using the stock market stabilization fund for ordinary swings, saying it is meant for “highly urgent, temporary and exceptional circumstances,” The Korea Herald reported. The president asked for a review of the fund's size and effectiveness.

Investors were also waiting for U.S. producer price data for clues on Federal Reserve policy after a steeper-than-expected rise in consumer prices earlier in the week, Yonhap said.

In Taipei, the chart levels flagged by Mega International Investment Services analyst Alex Huang on Wednesday remain overhead: resistance for TSMC near NT$2,450, and the Taiex's 20-day moving average at 45,144 points, about 1,469 points above Friday's close.