Kospi soars for fifth consecutive session, flirts with 8,000 mark despite U.S.-Iran truce delays

Shares closed at a new record high Monday, easily breaching the landmark 7,800-point level and extending the stock market's winning streak to a fifth consecutive session on the back of a bull run by semiconductor firms.

A screen in Hana Bank's trading room in central Seoul shows the Kospi closing at 7822.24 points on May 11, up 324.24 points, or 4.32 percent, from the previous day's trading session. [NEWS1]

Shares closed at a new record high Monday, easily breaching the landmark 7,800-point level and extending the stock market's winning streak to a fifth consecutive session on the back of a bull run by semiconductor firms, despite concerns of a potentially botched peace deal between the United States and Iran.

The benchmark Kospi surged 324.24 points, or 4.32 percent, to end at a fresh high of 7,822.24 after cresting as high as 7899.32.

The index delivered a record-breaking run for the fifth consecutive session, barreling toward the unprecedented 8,000-point milestone.

With the bull run, the combined market capitalization of the Kospi and the secondary bourse Kosdaq surpassed 7 quadrillion won ($4.75 trillion) for the first time in history Monday.

The combined market cap of the Kospi and Kosdaq topped 4 quadrillion won on Jan. 2 and surged above 6 quadrillion won on April 27.

On Monday alone, investors traded 723.4 million shares worth 50.2 trillion won.

Retail investors and institutions scooped up local shares worth 2.9 trillion won and 630 billion won, respectively, offsetting a 3.5 trillion won sell-off by foreigners.

Monday's surge was largely driven by a sharp rise in large-cap chip shares, despite concerns that peace negotiations between the U.S. and Iran are on the cusp of falling apart.

Earlier in the day, U.S. President Donald Trump said Iran's peace offer is unacceptable, fueling fears that the Middle East crisis will continue.

But investors' risk-on appetite was buoyed by optimism over the continued growth of the semiconductor demand in line with the AI infrastructure investment cycle and the recent tech gains on Wall Street, according to Lee Kyoung-min, an analyst at Daishin Securities.

The analyst said Korea's monthly chip exports are forecast to reach an all-time high in May.

Seoul's chip exports surged nearly 150 percent from a year earlier in the first 10 days of this month to a record high of $8.54 billion, government data showed earlier in the day.

On Friday, major U.S. stock indexes closed higher, driven by a surge in chip and AI shares. Micron soared 15.49 percent, AMD jumped 11.44 percent and Nvidia rose 1.75 percent.

Lee said, however, the Kospi is continuing to get a boost from gains in a limited number of semiconductor and other big-cap shares.

On Monday, 735 companies lost ground on the Kospi, while only 147 companies gained ground.

Market top-cap Samsung Electronics soared 6.33 percent to 285,500 won, and its chipmaking rival skyrocketed 11.51 percent to 1.88 million won, both reaching their highest-ever marks.

AI investment firm SK Square jumped 8.11 percent to 1.19 million won.

Automaker Hyundai Motor climbed 5.38 percent to 646,000 won, while its sister Kia rose 6.2 percent to 174,700 won. Auto parts-making affiliate Hyundai Mobis expanded 8.64 percent to 553,000 won.

Shipbuilders were also bullish on news that Korea and the U.S. signed a memorandum of understanding to advance bilateral shipbuilding cooperation.

HD Hyundai Heavy rose 4.1 percent to 685,000 won, Hanwha Ocean added 3.49 percent to 130,500 won, and HD Korea Shipbuilding gained 4.87 percent to 474,000 won.

On the other hand, electrical shares lost ground on profit-taking sentiment after the sector's recent rally.

HD Hyundai Electric dropped 2.92 percent to 1.36 million won, and LS Electric went down 2.88 percent to 304,000 won.

Battery maker LG Energy Solution dipped 1.78 percent to 468,000 won and power plant manufacturer Doosan Enerbility pulled back 1.23 percent to 128,000 won.

The won weakened by 0.7 won from the previous session to trade at 1472.4 per the dollar as of 3:30 p.m.

Yonhap