A dealer celebrates as KOSPI surpasses the historic 8,000 point landmark, Friday. Yonhap
Korean stocks turned higher to breach the landmark 8,000-point level Friday, after opening marginally lower, tracking overnight gains on Wall Street boosted by a rally of artificial intelligence (AI)-relates shares and a positive evaluation of the U.S.-China summit.
After starting 0.37 percent lower, the benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) had added 19.99 points, or 0.25 percent, to a fresh peak of 8,001.4 as of 9:15 a.m.
It took just a little over a week for the index to hit the new milestone after breaching the 7,000-point mark on May 6.
Overnight, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 0.75 percent higher, the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite gained 0.88 percent, and the S&P 500 went up 0.77 percent.
"Major U.S. indexes gained ground with the summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping broadly meeting market expectations," said Seo Sang-young, an analyst at Mirae Asset Securities.
In their high-stakes meeting in Beijing on Thursday, the leaders of the world's two largest economies agreed that Iran can never have a nuclear weapon and the crucial Strait of Hormuz must remain open, according to a White House official.
On expectations for closer cooperation between Washington and Beijing, major AI-related shares gained ground on Wall Street, with Nvidia jumping 4.39 percent, Broadcom rising 5.52 percent and TSMC adding 4.48 percent.
In Seoul, market top-cap Samsung Electronics started 0.68 percent lower, but its chipmaking rival SK hynix rose 0.61 percent.
Top automaker Hyundai Motor jumped 2.11 percent, and its auto parts-making affiliate Hyundai Mobis expanded 2.31 percent.
Source: Korea Times News
