Kospi briefly tops 7,000 for first time in 7 sessions ahead of Chuseok holiday

The Kospi pushed higher in early trading Monday, briefly reclaiming the 7,000 mark.

As of 9:50 a.m., the index stood at 6,961.17, up 0.97 percent from the previous session.

The benchmark opened at 6,938.34, a gain of 0.64 percent, and extended its advance in early trade to momentarily clear 7,000. It was the first time the Kospi had topped that level during intraday trading since Sept. 10 — seven sessions earlier.

On the Kospi market, foreign and institutional investors led the gains with net purchases of 184 billion won ($133 million) and 110.6 billion won, respectively. Retail investors were net sellers, offloading 509.6 billion won worth of shares.

On Wall Street on Friday (local time), the last trading day of the previous week, major indexes finished mixed. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.18 percent, while the S&P 500 and the tech-heavy NASDAQ Composite rose 0.17 percent and 0.39 percent, respectively.

International oil prices fell, and investor sentiment was weighed down as the yield on US government bonds, which had dipped to around 4 percent, climbed back above 5 percent.

Despite that headwind, major semiconductor stocks finished strong — Nvidia gained 1.34 percent, Broadcom rose 2.97 percent, AMD climbed 2.70 percent and Micron surged 3.92 percent. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index jumped 2.78 percent.

The domestic market is riding that momentum into this week, with the two semiconductor heavyweights leading the advance ahead of the Chuseok holiday.

Samsung Electronics was trading up 3.35 percent at 269,750 won. The stock opened with a 1.15 percent gain and briefly surged to 271,500 won, up 4.02 percent, in early trade.

SK hynix was up 0.27 percent at 1.86 million won at the same time. After opening with a modest gain of 0.81 percent, it climbed as high as 1.89 million won, up 1.67 percent, before briefly turning negative and then recovering.

Among other large-cap stocks, SK Square rose 2.32 percent and Samsung Electro-Mechanics gained 1.87 percent, while LG Energy Solution fell 3.02 percent and Hyundai Motor dropped 1.58 percent.

Kosdaq edged up 0.40 percent to 830.42 at the same time. The index opened at 830.71, up 0.43 percent, and has since been hovering near flat.

On the Kosdaq market, foreign and institutional investors were net sellers of 92.5 billion won and 51.5 billion won, respectively. Retail investors were the sole net buyers, with 152.9 billion won in net purchases.

Ecopro fell 1.48 percent and Ecopro BM dropped 1.53 percent, while Jusung Engineering slipped 0.49 percent and Rainbow Robotics declined 0.80 percent. Alteogen gained 1.38 percent, Wonik IPS rose 1.81 percent and EO Technics climbed 2.54 percent.

Lee Kyung-min, an analyst at Daishin Securities, said the Kospi has found support in the 6,500–6,700 range and that a breakout above 7,100 will be the key test for whether the rally can extend further. "If the index clears that level, the short-term target could rise to the 7,500–7,700 range," he said.

He added that a recovery of the forward price-to-earnings ratio to its average level of seven times this year would alone make a move toward 9,000 highly plausible.

However, he said volatility could increase ahead of the Chuseok holiday as the number of trading days shrinks and investors take profits. After the break, US personal consumption expenditure inflation data and Micron's earnings results are seen as key variables that will determine whether expectations for AI and semiconductors remain intact.