Kospi rally pushes Korea market cap above W6,000tr

South Korea's stock market capitalization surpassed 6,000 trillion won ($4.1 trillion) for the first time Monday, backed by a blistering Kospi rally that pushed the index past the 6,600 point mark for the first time.

The combined market cap stood at 6,104.69 trillion won as of closing, according to the Korea Exchange.

By market, the main board Kospi accounted for 5,439.87 trillion won, taking up roughly 90 percent of the total market. The secondary Kosdaq and entry-level Konex stood at 678.68 trillion won and 3.59 trillion won, respectively.

The country's stock market has been growing at an unprecedented pace, surpassing 3,000 trillion won on July 10, 4,000 trillion won on Jan. 2 and 5,000 trillion won on Feb. 3.

The figure briefly fell to 4,745 trillion won at the end of March, following the Middle East conflict. It has since rebounded alongside the Kospi rally, adding more than 1,300 trillion won so far in April.

The Kospi has been the main driver. It renewed its all-time high Monday, closing at 6,615.03 and touching 6,657.22 during trading.

Foreign and institutional investors pushed the index higher, net purchasing shares worth 890.6 billion won and 1.1 trillion won, respectively, while retail investors offloaded 1.97 trillion won.

Semiconductor heavyweights led the advance. Samsung Electronics closed 2.28 percent higher at 224,500 won, while SK hynix wrapped up at 1.29 million won, surging 5.73 percent.

Earlier, SK hynix surpassed the 1.3 million won mark for the first time, rising to a record high of 1.32 million won during trading.

Market analysts attributed the chip sector's gains as the main force driving the stock market rally.

With Samsung Electronics's market cap standing at 1,440.95 trillion won, including preferred shares, and SK hynix at 920.81 trillion won, the two chip giants together account for roughly 38.7 percent of Korea’s total market capitalization and 43.6 percent of the Kospi.

"The Kospi soared above the 6,600 level, driven by stronger earnings and order backlog momentum," said Lee Kyung-min, an analyst at Daishin Securities, adding that strong earnings from Samsung Electronics and SK hynix have led to a broad-based upgrade in market profit expectations.

"The AI value chain has played a key role in driving the local stock market capitalization to 6,000 trillion won," said Kang Jin-hyuk, an analyst at Shinhan Securities.

The tech-heavy Kosdaq also gained ground, rising 1.86 percent to 1,226.18. The rise follows the index breaking the 1,200 level for the first time in about 25 years on Friday, marking its return to levels last seen during the dot-com bubble in 2000.

The Korean won was quoted at 1,472 per dollar as of the close of daytime trading, strengthening 12 won from the previous session.