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Kospi reaches new record high on hopes of second round of U.S.-Iran peace talks, tech rally

Published: 21 Apr. 2026, 17:15 Updated: 21 Apr. 2026, 18:24

YOON SO-YEON
[email protected]

Woori Bank traders celebrate as the Kospi closes on a record high on April 21. Numbers are displayed on a digital board inside the Woori Bank main branch in Jung District, central Seoul. [YONHAP]

Korea's stock market swung dramatically upward on Tuesday and hit a record high amid hopes surrounding the U.S.-Iran peace talks and the revival of a tech rally — two months after an extreme rout caused by the Middle East crisis.

The benchmark Kospi closed at 6,388.47 points on Tuesday, up 2.72 percent from the previous trading session, to surpass the market's previous high of 6,307.27 from Feb. 26, right before the outbreak of the Iran war.

Trade volume was heavy at 784.2 million shares worth 30.5 trillion won ($20.7 billion). Winners outnumbered losers 455 to 408. Foreigners net purchased more than 1.3 trillion won worth of local stocks, compared to the net 1.9 trillion won sold by retail investors. Institutional investors were net sellers, offloading 737.7 billion won.

Major Korean stocks closed in positive territory on Tuesday.

Kospi trend graphic April 21 2026

Market bellwether Samsung Electronics shot up 2.1 percent compared to the previous day to close at 219,000 won, and rival SK hynix skyrocketed 4.97 percent to close at 1.224 million won. LG Energy Solution also soared by a whopping 11.42 percent to close at 478,000 won, and the country's top carmaker Hyundai Motor climbed 3.61 percent to close at 19,000 won.

Bio firms, however, swayed. Samsung Biologics inched down 1.06 percent, and Celltrion did the same by 1.22 percent.

Finance leaders KB Financial Group and Shinhan Financial Group also slipped by 0.31 percent and 0.2 percent, respectively.

Seoul shares had been suffering extreme volatility since the onset of the war between the United States and Iran, once falling as much as 12 percent during a single trading day and rising as much as 9 percent over the course of another.

The country's stock market braced for the sharpest drop of more than 19 percent among global peers in March over war-fueled woes regarding high inflation and an economic slowdown, according to data from Yonhap Infomax, the financial arm of Yonhap News Agency. Global oil prices soared to record highs, topping $100 per barrel following Iran's closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a key oil route.

Seoul shares close on a record high of 6,388.47, up 2.72 percent from the previous day, on April 21. Numbers are shown on a digital board inside the Hana Bank main branch in Jung District, central Seoul. [NEWS1]

Kospi's new milestone comes as investors are showing reduced sensitivity to the developments in the Middle East and pinning hopes on progress in the U.S.-Iran peace talks while optimism over Korea's major chipmakers re-emerges, according to Han Ji-young, an analyst at Kiwoom Securities.

Such a trend was also seen among foreign investors, who have returned to the local market after net selling a record amount of 35 trillion won worth of local stocks last month.

Investors are now turning their focus to corporate earnings, especially those from SK hynix, set to release its first-quarter results this week.

Samsung Electronics, the country's top cap, reported record-high earnings in the first quarter, with an operating profit of over 50 trillion won, aided by spiking demand for chips amid a boom in AI. Market watchers expect SK hynix to deliver a “super” earnings surprise for the first quarter, led by robust sales of its high bandwidth memory, or HBM, used in AI, as well as a tight supply for dynamic random-access memory, or DRAM, chips.

The government's initiatives to enhance shareholder returns and reform the capital markets could open space for further advancement of the Kospi's momentum, market watchers said.

U.S. President Donald Trump, center front, signs an executive order encouraging more research into ibogaine, next to U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., second from left in the back, Joe Rogan, center back, and Americans for Ibogaine CEO W. Bryan Hubbard, second from right in the back, in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington on April 18. [REUTERS/YONHAP]

Despite looming geopolitical uncertainties and the approaching deadline of the two-week cease-fire set to expire on Wednesday, views from global banks on the local market remain bullish.

Goldman Sachs has recently raised its 12-month target for the Kospi from 7,000 points to 8,000 points, citing improving fundamentals across industries. JPMorgan Chase said Korea remains among the bank's “top preferred markets” in the region, raising its “bull” case for the Kospi to 8,500 points.

The United States and Iran are still sparring over a second round of peace talks. U.S. President Donald Trump said the deadline will likely not be extended, and expectations run high that Iran may come to the table for negotiations.

Meanwhile, the won strengthened by 8.7 won compared to the previous session to trade at 1,468.5 per dollar at 3:30 p.m. on Tuesday. It marked the strongest level since March 11, when the won closed at 1,466.5.

BY YOON SO-YEON, YONHAP [[email protected]]