SK Hynix Shares Rise 13 Percent in Seoul After Nasdaq ADRs Jump 27 Percent

SK Hynix's Seoul-listed shares surged as much as 13% on Wednesday after its Nasdaq-listed American Depositary Receipts jumped 27% overnight, Insider reported. The rebound came after a sharp selloff earlier in the week and followed the memory chip maker's Nasdaq debut on Friday.

The Nasdaq listing removed hurdles for US investors including Korean settlement, currency administration, and investment mandate restrictions, Scott White, an analyst at Singapore-based Yaru Investments, said.

White wrote in a Monday note that early trading reflected exceptional fundamentals, constrained float, and crowded positioning across two markets with different investor bases. ADRs of SK Hynix are trading at roughly 35% above their Korean counterparts. Jing Jie Yu, an equity analyst at Morningstar, said he expects the ADRs to continue finding their footing given their limited trading history.

Single-stock leveraged ETFs tied to SK Hynix were launched in the US following the Nasdaq debut. Yu said he expects tremendous volatility in both the ADRs and Korean shares. Jeff Kim, head of research at South Korea's KB Securities, wrote on Wednesday that recent weakness reflected growing concerns over a slowdown in AI investment.

Kim added that neither the long-term AI growth trajectory nor memory supply-demand fundamentals have changed meaningfully from a month ago.