According to the Korea Exchange, the combined market capitalization of the KOSPI, KOSDAQ and KONEX stood at 4,799.36 trillion won ($3.6 trillion) at Friday’s close, slightly edging Taiwan’s total of 4,798.68 trillion won as well as Germany.
The World Federation of Exchanges rank placed South Korea at the 10th worldwide as of December last year, trailing the United States, China, the European Union, Japan, Hong Kong, India, Canada, Taiwan and Germany.
The Seoul bourse moved up by two notches on frenzied buying in chip stocks upon record earnings confirming a semiconductor supercycle.
The benchmark KOSPI, hosting memory giants Samsung Electronics and SK hynix has surged about 21 percent as of Friday, marking the strongest performance among major global indices. The tech-heavy KOSDAQ has gained nearly 17 percent, ranking third worldwide in year-to-date returns.
Germany’s DAX index and Taiwan’s weighted index so far in the year gained 0.94 percent and 9.73 percent, respectively.
Despite last week's correction, analysts are still buoyant about upward momentum.
NH Investment & Securities perceives the KOSPI has yet to reach the peak of its current cycle, raising its 12-month target to 7,300 from 5,500. JPMorgan also raised target to 7,500 from 6,000.
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