Dealers celebrate in front of an electronic trading board at Hana Bank’s headquarters in central Seoul, Wednesday, as the benchmark KOSPI briefly crossed the historic 6,000-point mark. Yonhap
Seoul shares jumped nearly 2 percent Wednesday to surpass the 6,000-point mark for the first time, lifted by extended gains in technology and automobile stocks. The Korean won sharply rose against the U.S. dollar.
The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) advanced 114.22 points, or 1.91 percent, to finish at a record high of 6,083.86 after hitting an intraday high of 6,144.71. The KOSPI has rallied for the fifth consecutive day.
Trading volume was heavy at 1.39 billion shares worth 33.86 trillion won (US$23.7 billion), with gainers outnumbering decliners 446 to 433.
The index has maintained strong upward momentum in recent weeks, surpassing the 5,000-point mark for the first time on Jan. 27 and crossing 5,500 on Feb. 12. It moved above 5,800 on Friday and 5,900 on Tuesday.
The rally tracked overnight gains on Wall Street, where the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.76 percent and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite advanced 1.04 percent.
Institutions and individuals bought a net 880.76 billion won and 224.71 billion won worth of stocks, offsetting foreign selling valued at 1.29 trillion won.
"The rally in technology stocks was extended as concerns eased over the disruptive effects of artificial intelligence. In particular, retail investors snapped up tech shares on expectations of a semiconductor supercycle, lifting the broader market," Han Ji-young, an analyst at Kiwoom Securities Corp., said.
Investors are now awaiting earnings results from Nvidia Corp. due this week for further direction, analysts said.
At the same time, market participants remained cautious over U.S. President Donald Trump's push to impose new tariffs after the Supreme Court struck down his earlier sweeping duties.
Source: Korea Times News
