Milestone comes just one month after breaking through 5,000-point barrier in historic run

From left: Financial Supervisory Service Gov. Lee Chan-jin, Financial Services Commission Chair Lee Eok-won, Korea Exchange CEO Jeong Eun-bo, People Power Party Rep. Kang Min-kuk and Korea Financial Investment Association Chairman Whang Song-youp celebrate the Kospi rising above 6,000 for the first time at a ceremony held at the Korea Exchange's office in Yeouido, western Seoul, Wednesday. (Joint Press Corps.)
From left: Financial Supervisory Service Gov. Lee Chan-jin, Financial Services Commission Chair Lee Eok-won, Korea Exchange CEO Jeong Eun-bo, People Power Party Rep. Kang Min-kuk and Korea Financial Investment Association Chairman Whang Song-youp celebrate the Kospi rising above 6,000 for the first time at a ceremony held at the Korea Exchange's office in Yeouido, western Seoul, Wednesday. (Joint Press Corps.)

South Korea’s benchmark Kospi vaulted past 6,000 points Wednesday, continuing on its blistering rally just a month after crossing the 5,000-point threshold.

The Kospi closed at 6,083.86 points on the day, marking a gain of 1.91 percent, from the previous session. The index opened over 6,000, kicking off the session at 6,022.7. During trading, it extended the gains and surged as high as 6,144.71, surpassing the 6,100 threshold as well.

Wednesday was the first time the benchmark had risen past 6,000 points in terms of both intraday trading and closing.

The milestone comes roughly four months after the index first broke past 4,000 points on Oct. 27 last year, and just a month after it closed above 5,000 on Jan. 27.

With the upbeat market, the Kospi’s total market capitalization exceeded 5,000 trillion won ($3.5 trillion). The combined market cap of all companies listed on the Kospi stood at 5,015 trillion won as of daytime trading’s close.

The surge represents an increase of more than 1,000 trillion won in just a month since the bourse first crossed 4,000 trillion won on Jan. 16.

Semiconductor giants powered the rally, tracking overnight gains on Wall Street, buoyed by strength in artificial intelligence and semiconductor shares as markets priced in expectations for Nvidia’s earnings.

Chipmakers Samsung Electronics and SK hynix continued their strong performance, hitting new record highs of 206,000 won and 1.03 million won, respectively, a day after reaching milestones of 200,000 won and 1 million won.

Samsung Electronics wrapped up daytime trading at 203,500 won, up 1.75 percent, while SK hynix rose 1.29 percent to 1.01 million won.

Retail investors and institutional investors were net buyers, purchasing 232 billion won and 880 billion won, respectively. Foreign investors sold shares amounting to 1.29 trillion won.

The secondary bourse Kosdaq failed to mirror the Kospi’s gains, edging up just 0.02 percent to 1,165.25 as of closing. After opening 0.8 percent higher at 1,174.27, the index struggled to stay above its opening level and remained flat throughout the day.

The Korean won appreciated against the dollar despite heavy foreign selling. It was quoted at 1,429.4 per greenback as of daytime trading’s close, strengthening 13.1 won from the previous session.

Shortly before the closing, the won marked 1,428.1 per dollar, its strongest level since Jan. 29.

"The domestic stock market faced heightened policy uncertainty after the US Supreme Court ruled President Donald Trump’s 'reciprocal' tariffs unlawful, followed by his announcement of a new round of global tariffs," said Lee Jae-man, an analyst at Hana Securities.

"Considering the increase in liquidity both at home and abroad, however, there still appears to be substantial room for further upside in the local stock market."


silverstar@heraldcorp.com