KOSPI Surges Past 7,000 as Semiconductor Rally Lifts Samsung, SK Hynix

 
South Korea’s benchmark KOSPI has pushed above the 7,000 mark, about two months after breaking through 6,000. Compared with a year earlier, the index has nearly tripled in an unprecedented rally, prompting talk that the market has entered a new normal. Brokerage research chiefs said the momentum could carry the index to 9,000.
  
According to the Korea Exchange, the KOSPI on the 6th closed at 7,384.56, up 447.57 points, or 6.45%, from the previous session. It extended record highs and at one point neared 7,500. The index stood at 2,573.80 on May 7 last year, meaning it has risen about 187% in a year.
 
Semiconductors led the surge. Expectations for improved earnings at major chipmakers and upward revisions to profit forecasts boosted sentiment and spread gains across the supply chain. Samsung Electronics closed at 266,000 won, up 33,500 won (14.41%). Its market capitalization reached about 1,555 trillion won, entering the so-called $1 trillion club for the first time. It is the second in Asia after Taiwan’s TSMC and ranks 12th globally by market value, according to Bloomberg data. SK Hynix rose 10.64% to 1,601,000 won, with a market cap of 1,141 trillion won.
 
The Korea Exchange said total KOSPI market capitalization stood at 6,058 trillion won at the close, up about 3,951 trillion won from 2,107 trillion won a year earlier. The combined market cap of Samsung Electronics (including preferred shares) and SK Hynix was about 2,848 trillion won, or roughly 47% of the total, nearly double the 23.7% share a year earlier.
 
Other gainers included SK Square, SK Hynix’s holding company and the market’s fourth-largest by capitalization, as well as KOSPI-listed members of the KRX Semiconductor Index such as Hanmi Semiconductor, DB HiTek, HD Hyundai Energy Solutions, KC Tech and LX Semicon. Nearly half of the KOSPI’s total market value is effectively tied to the semiconductor cycle.
 
Market participants said the rally reflects more than liquidity-driven gains, describing it as a structural re-rating as chip-led profit dynamics reshape the index’s baseline.
 
Some analysts said there is room for further upside. Research chiefs at seven major brokerages forecast the KOSPI could reach as high as 9,000 in the second half of the year. Lee Jae-won, an analyst at Yuanta Securities, said, “With the KOSPI PER at about 7.18 times, valuation pressure is not heavy even now that the index is above 7,300,” adding that it “acts as a factor supporting the downside.”