South Korean stocks surge to record high on AI stock rally
South Korean stocks extended their rally to a fresh all-time high on Monday, supported by strong gains in shares linked to artificial intelligence (AI), News.Az reports, citing Yonhap.
The local currency also strengthened against the U.S. dollar.
The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose by 311.85 points, or 3.68 percent, to close at 8,788.38, after reaching a new intraday peak of 8,874.16.
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The index opened at a record level and continued climbing throughout the session. As gains accelerated, the Korea Exchange (KRX) activated a buy-side sidecar mechanism, temporarily suspending program trading in KOSPI stocks for five minutes at around 11:30 a.m.
Trading activity was very heavy, with 618.17 million shares changing hands, valued at 69.4 trillion won (US$46.1 billion). Declining stocks outnumbered advancing ones, with 712 losers compared to 194 gainers.
On the flow side, institutions and individual investors recorded net purchases of 2.53 trillion won and 377.31 billion won, respectively, while foreign investors were net sellers, offloading 2.91 trillion won.
The US and Iran have been negotiating over a draft agreement aimed at ending the conflict and reopening the Strait of Hormuz, but the lack of a meaningful breakthrough over the weekend helped lift oil prices higher.
Despite the lack of progress in the Middle East talks, chipmakers rallied on expectations that the AI-driven semiconductor boom will continue.
South Korea's exports surged 53 percent from a year earlier to a new monthly high of US$87.8 billion in May, driven by the semiconductor supercycle, government data showed.
Robot and AI-related stocks gained on expectations of potential partnership opportunities ahead of U.S. chip giant Nvidia Corp. CEO Jensen Huang's visit to South Korea later this week.
During a Computex conference in Taipei, Huang said Nvidia's Vera central processing unit (CPU) designed for AI agents will be equipped with high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips supplied by Samsung Electronics, SK hynix and Micron.
Market bellwether Samsung Electronics jumped 10.09 percent to a record high of 349,000 won, while rival chipmaker SK hynix climbed 1.29 percent to 1.36 million won.
Top automaker Hyundai Motor gained 3.73 percent to 750,000 won, and AI investment firm SK Square rose 1.87 percent to 1.25 million won.
LG Electronics skyrocketed 29.86 percent to 380,500 won, and internet portal operator Naver surged 16.03 percent to 271,500 won amid reports that their chiefs could meet Huang to discuss AI partnership.
The Korean won was quoted at 1,504.3 won against the U.S. dollar at 3:30 p.m., up 3.6 won from the previous session.
Bond prices, which move inversely to yields, closed lower. The yield on three-year Treasurys rose 5.9 basis points to 3.790 percent, while the return on the benchmark five-year government bonds added 7.2 basis points to 3.996 percent.
By Nijat Babayev
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