FX.co ★ Korean Stocks Rally to Fresh Record Highs

The KOSPI index saw an upward movement of 0.94%, reaching approximately 4,841 on Friday. This marks the fifth consecutive session of gains, buoyed by encouraging signals from Wall Street's overnight performance. US stocks closed higher, fueled by Taiwan's chipmaker TSMC's impressive earnings, which bolstered optimism around the ongoing demand for cutting-edge semiconductors and AI infrastructure. For the first time, KOSPI has surpassed the 4,800-point milestone, continuing South Korea's strong bullish trajectory, with new record highs being set almost daily since the year's start. Leading the charge were key players in the chipmaking and automotive sectors, such as Samsung Electronics (+2.78%), SK Hynix (+1.20%), Hyundai Motor (+0.12%), and Kia Corporation (+2.95%). In contrast, Naver (-1.41%), Kakao Corp (-1.88%), and NCSoft (-3.48%) experienced declines after failing to advance to the shortlist in a government initiative to select developers for domestic AI foundational models.