Seoul's benchmark tops 3,500 trillion won in market value

An electronic board at a Woori Bank dealing room in central Seoul shows the Kospi closing at 4,309.63, while Samsung Electronics and SK hynix finished at record high levels of 128,500 won and 677,000 won, respectively, on Friday. (Yonhap)
An electronic board at a Woori Bank dealing room in central Seoul shows the Kospi closing at 4,309.63, while Samsung Electronics and SK hynix finished at record high levels of 128,500 won and 677,000 won, respectively, on Friday. (Yonhap)

South Korean stock markets kicked off the year on a bullish note Friday, with the Kospi crossing 4,300 for the first time to set a new all-time high.

The benchmark index ended the first trading day of 2026 up 2.27 percent at 4,309.6.

After opening at 4,224.5, strong buying from the outset lifted the index steadily through the session. It broke above the 4,300 mark around 2:30 p.m., hitting an intraday high of 4,313.55, before paring some gains into the close.

The move marked the fifth time the Kospi has set a record high on the first trading session of the year, following similar openings in 1988, 2006, 2011 and 2021.

Semiconductor stocks again led the rally. While decliners outnumbered gainers across the broader market, outsized advances by chipmakers Samsung Electronics and SK hynix — the Kospi’s two largest constituents — drove the index higher. Samsung climbed more than 7 percent to 128,500 won ($89), while SK hynix rose nearly 4 percent to 677,000 won.

Lingering optimism in the chip sector, reinforced by strong December export data, likely fueled the market’s risk-on mood. The Industry Ministry said Thursday that Korea’s exports jumped 13 percent from a year earlier to $69.57 billion, an all-time monthly high and the 11th consecutive month of growth. Semiconductor exports, a key pillar for the economy, extended a 10-month run of gains, rising 43 percent on-year to $2.07 billion.

“The sharp surge in chip exports in December, combined with confidence expressed by Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Jun Young-hyun in sixth-generation high-bandwidth memory, or HBM4, ahead of the company’s earnings announcement, lifted market expectations,” said Lee Kyoung-min, a senior analyst at Daishin Securities.

Foreigners led the rally, with net purchases of 630 billion won, while individuals and institutions were net sellers of 450 billion won and 230 billion won, respectively.

With the gains, the Kospi’s market capitalization topped 3,500 trillion won for the first time, adding more than 500 trillion won since surpassing 3,000 trillion won for the first time in October.

The Kosdaq, Korea’s secondary board, also ended Friday higher, closing at 945.57, up 2.2 percent from last year’s close and marking its highest finish in more than three years, since April 2022.

On the tech-heavy market, foreigners logged net purchases of more than 100 billion won in a rare bout of buying, supported by 85 billion won in net buying by institutions. Retail investors were net sellers of 180 billion won.

The won traded around 1,440 per dollar through the session, a tad weaker than 1,439 at the end of 2025, before weakening further after the close to around 1,447 as of 6 p.m.


jwc@heraldcorp.com