SEOUL, October 02 (AJP) - The main South Korean stock index, the KOSPI, surged to a historic close on Thursday, breaching the 3,500 level for the first time on record.
Driven by a frenzied rally in technology and semiconductor shares, the benchmark index climbed 93.38 points, or 2.7 percent, to settle at 3,549.21, capping a day that saw the index peak at an intraday high of 3,565.96.
The powerful upward trajectory was anchored by the nation's two memory chip giants. Samsung Electronics rose 3.49 percent, closing at 89,000 won and briefly touching 90,300 won, a high not seen since January 2021. More dramatically, SK hynix rocketed 9.72 percent to close at 395,000 won, achieving an intraday high of 404,500 won — its first time ever crossing the 400,000 won threshold.
The sector’s strength was fueled by growing optimism surrounding potential alliances in artificial intelligence.
This sentiment was galvanized by a high-profile meeting between President Lee Jae Myung and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman to discuss broad cooperation in semiconductors and AI, including reports that Samsung and SK hynix were exploring a “Stargate” memory chip partnership with OpenAI.
The enthusiasm spilled over from Wall Street, where a surge in semiconductor stocks, including a 7 percent rise in Intel, had already set a positive tone for global tech markets.
Trading was dominated by foreign capital, which provided the bulk of the buying power necessary to lift the index to its record height.
Overseas investors registered net purchases totaling 3.13 trillion won. In contrast, domestic retail investors offloaded 3.07 trillion won of shares, while institutional investors sold a net 668 billion won.
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