KOSPI's closing price is displayed at the dealing room of Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, Thursday. The benchmark index closed at 7,981.41, up 137.40 points, or 1.75 percent, from the previous session, setting a new high and coming within 19 points of the 8,000 mark. Yonhap
KOSPI opened higher Thursday on the back of gains in U.S. technology stocks and extended its upward momentum, closing at another record high and moving closer to the 8,000 mark.
The country’s benchmark index opened at 7,873.91, up 29.90 points, or 0.38 percent, from the previous session, and extended its gains to close at 7,981.41, up 137.40 points, or 1.75 percent. At one point during the session, it rose as high as 7,991.04.
Overnight, U.S. markets continued to see strong gains in semiconductor stocks despite rising concerns over inflation. The April U.S. producer price index increased 6 percent from a year earlier, largely due to soaring energy costs, marking the sharpest increase since December 2022 and reinforcing worries about persistent inflationary pressure.
Still, investor sentiment toward tech shares remained upbeat, helped by Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang accompanying U.S. President Donald Trump on his China trip, which began Thursday. Nvidia rose 2.29 percent, Alphabet jumped 3.94 percent and the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index advanced 2.57 percent.
According to state-run China Central Television, the summit between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday morning concluded after 135 minutes. Xi also met with prominent U.S. business leaders attending Trump’s China visit, including Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Apple CEO Tim Cook, as well as Huang.
China’s state-run Xinhua News Agency reported that Xi pledged to further expand China’s openness and said he believes U.S. businesses will gain broader opportunities in the country.
Joining a recent wave of domestic and foreign brokerages raising their KOSPI targets, KB Securities also raised its year-end target for the index to 10,500 from 7,500, saying earnings upgrades driven by global artificial intelligence (AI) investment are outpacing the market rally and helping ease valuation concerns.
The brokerage said investor unease over the steep rally is understandable, but noted that market bubbles do not burst merely because prices have climbed rapidly. It argued that a meaningful correction would require clear triggers such as a deterioration in the economic cycle or a sudden surge in interest rates, both of which are unlikely to materialize over the next three to six months.
“KOSPI is still trading at a steep discount relative to Asian emerging markets despite expectations for robust earnings growth,” said Kim Dong-won, research chief at KB Securities. “Korea’s industrial mix, including semiconductors, power and robotics, is highly optimized for the buildout of AI infrastructure, suggesting that KOSPI retains significant upside potential even after its recent advance.”
Source: Korea Times News
