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Kospi bursts past 4,400 mark for first time

Published: 05 Jan. 2026, 09:25 Updated: 05 Jan. 2026, 12:05

YOON SO-YEON
[email protected]

The Kospi breaks the 4,400 mark for the first time during intraday trading early on Jan. 5. The figures are shown on an electronic display in a trading room in Hana Bank in central Seoul. [NEWS1]

The benchmark Korean bourse surpassed the 4,400 mark for the first time during early intraday trading on Monday morning.

The Kospi opened at 4,385.92, up 1.77 percent from the previous trading day, according to the Korea Exchange. It quickly climbed further to break through the 4,400 mark — an all-time intraday high — and as of 9:10 a.m., was trading at 4,413.35, up 2.41 percent.

The index surpassed 4,300 on Friday, just one trading session earlier, after breaking 4,200 roughly two months ago.

Most of the top-cap stocks started on a high note, especially for Korea’s leading chipmakers Samsung Electronics and SK hynix. Samsung Electronics jumped 4.9 percent to 134,800 won ($93), breaking the 130,000-won threshold for the first time. SK hynix also rose 3.25 percent to 699,000 won, approaching the 700,000-won level.

The early rally was led by net buying from foreign investors, who purchased 219.9 billion won worth of shares on the main bourse. In contrast, retail investors were net sellers, offloading 127.6 billion won worth of stocks.

The Kosdaq also edged up, gaining 0.13 percent to reach 946.79 in early morning trading.

BY YOON SO-YEON [[email protected]]