 |
| ▲ This photo shows the dealing room of Hana Bank in Seoul on Jan. 15, 2026. (Yonhap) |
stocks-summary
Seoul shares end at new record high, inch away from 4,800; won rebounds
SEOUL, Jan. 15 (Yonhap) -- South Korean stocks continued their blistering bull run Thursday to set a new all-time high, just an inch away from the uncharted territory of 4,800, on strong chip and auto gains. The local currency rose sharply against the U.S. dollar on a verbal intervention from Washington.
The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 74.45 points, or 1.58 percent, to finish at a record 4,797.55.
It marked the 10th consecutive day of gains since the beginning of the year.
Trade volume was heavy at 540 million shares worth 23.6 trillion won (US$16 billion), with winners beating losers 482 to 389.
Foreign and institutional investors pushed up the index, scooping up a net 334.4 billion won and 1.3 trillion won, respectively. However, individuals dumped a net 1.8 trillion won.
Semiconductor and auto shares were the main drivers of the record-breaking rally.
Samsung Electronics, the world's largest memory chipmaker, jumped 2.57 percent to 143,900 won, and SK hynix advanced 0.94 percent to 749,000 won.
Top carmaker Hyundai Motor mounted 2.55 percent to 422,000 won and its sister Kia soared 6.64 percent to 152,500 won.
Korea Zinc, a leading zinc smelter, surged 11.47 percent to 1.44 million won, and steel giant POSCO Holdings gained 1.88 percent to 351,500 won.
K-pop powerhouse Hybe rose 2.27 percent to 338,500 won after announcing the world tour schedules of global superstar BTS.
However, Naver sank 4.62 percent to 247,500 won and NCSOFT dropped 1.41 percent to 244,000 after their subsidiaries were eliminated from the government-led competition in selecting developers for homegrown artificial intelligence (AI) foundation models.
The local currency was quoted at 1,469.7 won against the greenback at 3:30 p.m., up 7.8 won from the previous session following U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent's remark on the weakening Korean won.
(END)
(C) Yonhap News Agency. All Rights Reserved
