{"id":908434,"date":"2026-05-26T13:17:30","date_gmt":"2026-05-26T18:17:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/26\/seoul-shares-spike-over-5-pct-to-approach-7000-on-chip-rally-won-sharply-up\/"},"modified":"2026-05-26T13:17:30","modified_gmt":"2026-05-26T18:17:30","slug":"seoul-shares-spike-over-5-pct-to-approach-7000-on-chip-rally-won-sharply-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/26\/seoul-shares-spike-over-5-pct-to-approach-7000-on-chip-rally-won-sharply-up\/","title":{"rendered":"Seoul shares spike over 5 pct to approach 7,000 on chip rally; won sharply up"},"content":{"rendered":"

This photo, taken Monday, shows the trading room of Hana Bank in Seoul as South Korean stocks rose more than 5 percent to reach a record high. Photo by Yonhap<\/p>\n

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South Korean stocks shot up by more than 5 percent to close at a fresh high Monday, approaching the 7,000-point mark, as investors scooped up semiconductor shares while awaiting developments in U.S.-Iran peace talks. The Korean won rose sharply against the U.S. dollar.<\/p>\n

The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) added 338.12 points, or 5.12 percent, to a fresh record high of 6,936.99.\n<\/p>\n

Trade volume was heavy at 864.3 million shares worth 41.3 trillion won (US$28.2 billion), with losers outnumbering winners 473 to 392.<\/p>\n

Foreigners bought 3 trillion won worth of local shares, and institutions purchased a net 1.9 trillion won, while retail investors dumped a net 4.8 trillion won.<\/p>\n

The index opened 2.79 percent higher after U.S. President Donald Trump<\/a> announced a plan to guide ships not involved in the Iran conflict through the Strait of Hormuz as a “humanitarian gesture” starting this week.\n<\/p>\n

Later, a senior Iranian official warned that Tehran would consider any U.S. interference in the strait a ceasefire breach.<\/p>\n

However, the KOSPI extended its gains in the afternoon, supported by foreign and institutional buying.<\/p>\n

“Tech shares were driven by gains on Wall Street over the weekend,” Lee Kyung<\/a>-min, an analyst at Daishin Securities, said. “Also, foreign investors expanded their net purchase ahead of the market closure for Children’s Day on Tuesday.”<\/p>\n

The main index surpassed the 5,000-point mark in late January and topped another milestone of the 6,000-point level in February.<\/p>\n

After recouping its losses in March following the outbreak of the U.S.-Iran war in late February, the KOSPI is now approaching the uncharted 7,000-point level on continued optimism over the AI boom and hopes for the reopening of the key waterway.<\/p>\n

Semiconductor stocks led the rally.<\/p>\n

Chip giant Samsung Electronics jumped 5.44 percent to 232,500 won, and its chipmaking rival SK hynix surged 12.52 percent to a fresh record high of 1.4 million won, surpassing 10 trillion won in market capitalization for the first time.<\/p>\n

Hanmi Semiconductor, a chip equipment manufacturer, rose 2.72 percent to 378,000 won, and Samsung Electro-Mechanics, an electronic components affiliate of Samsung Electronics Co., soared 10.34 percent to 918,000 won.\n<\/p>\n

Defense shares were also strong as industry leader Hanwha Aerospace advanced 3.39 percent to 1.4 million won and LIG D&A gained 4.46 percent to 983,000 won.<\/p>\n

Top carmaker Hyundai Motor climbed 1.51 percent to 539,000 won, and leading battery maker LG Energy Solution increased 2.5 percent to 472,000 won.<\/p>\n

However, bio shares went south as Celltrion fell 1.35 percent to 197,800 won, and Samsung Biologics dropped 2.58 percent to 1.4 million won.<\/p>\n

The Korean won was quoted at 1,462.8 won against the U.S. dollar at 3:30 p.m., up 20.5 won from the previous session.<\/p>\n

The quotation marks the highest since February 27, when the currency closed at 1,439.7 to the greenback.<\/p>\n

Bond prices, which move inversely to yields, closed lower. The yield on three-year Treasurys added 2 basis points to 3.615 percent, while the return on the benchmark five-year government bonds gained 1.7 basis points to 3.797 percent.<\/p>\n

Copyright (c) Yonhap News Agency prohibits its content from being redistributed or reprinted without consent, and forbids the content from being learned and used by artificial intelligence systems.<\/i><\/p>\n

\t\t\t Tama Volkman
Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This photo, taken Monday, shows the trading room of Hana Bank in Seoul as South Korean stocks rose more than 5 percent to reach a record high. Photo by Yonhap South Korean stocks shot up by more than 5 percent to close at a fresh high Monday, approaching the 7,000-point mark, as investors scooped up<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":908435,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31963,702],"tags":[51591,8369],"class_list":["post-908434","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-seoul","category-shares","tag-seoul","tag-shares"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/908434","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=908434"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/908434\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/908435"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=908434"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=908434"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=908434"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}