The KOSPI surpassed the 7,800 mark for the first time in history on Tuesday, driven by a surge in semiconductor stocks. A rally in U.S. chip shares and rising expectations for the artificial intelligence (AI) memory market have spurred foreign investor inflows, centered on large-cap tech stocks.
According to the Korea Exchange, the KOSPI opened at 7,775.31 on November 11, up 277.31 points, or 3.70%, from the previous trading day. The index briefly surged to 7,816.66 in early trading. This marks the first time the KOSPI has crossed the 7,800 level during intraday trading.
Domestic large-cap semiconductor stocks are driving the index higher, following a sharp rise in the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index on Wall Street. In U.S. markets last Friday, the Nasdaq gained 1.7% while the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index jumped 5.5%. Memory-related stocks including Micron and SanDisk also posted double-digit gains.
As of 9:05 a.m., among top market-cap stocks, Samsung Electronics (005930.KS) was trading at 286,000 won, up 17,500 won, or 6.52%, from the previous session, entering the "280,000-won Samsung" range. SK hynix (000660.KS) surged 9.96%, or 168,000 won, to 1.854 million won.
SK Square also rose 7.38% to 1.179 million won, while Samsung Electronics preferred shares gained 5.31%. Samsung C&T jumped 9.82%, showing strong momentum among top market-cap stocks.
Meanwhile, LG Energy Solution (373220.KS) fell 1.99%, and Doosan Enerbility declined 0.93%.
Analysts say that despite concerns over a stalemate in nuclear negotiations between the United States and Iran, global investors are focusing more on the AI semiconductor outlook and the possibility of a memory super-cycle than on geopolitical risks. U.S. President Donald Trump said the previous day that Iran's proposal was "completely unacceptable," but the market impact has been limited.
"The sustainability of the semiconductor-driven market rally from last week is the key variable for this week's market," said Han Ji-young, an analyst at Kiwoom Securities. "If expectations for the AI data center and HBM investment cycle continue, the strong momentum centered on domestic semiconductor stocks could be sustained."
