KOSPI tops another milestone of 5,000 points

Dealing room of Hana Bank in Seoul, Wednesday / Yonhap

Korean stocks opened sharply higher Thursday and hit another intraday record, briefly topping the 5,000-point level.

After opening nearly 2 percent higher, the benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) surpassed the historic mark at 9:01 a.m.

It marked the first time the index crossed 5,000 points since the country's stock market began trading 70 years ago.

The KOSPI has witnessed dramatic swings in recent years.

It plunged to around 1,500 in March 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic, before rebounding sharply, driven by strong retail investor buying and global stimulus measures, to reach 3,000 in January 2021.

The index fell again to the 2,300 level by the end of 2024 amid heightened political turmoil following former President Yoon Suk Yeol's brief imposition of martial law.

The latest milestone comes just over six months after President Lee Jae Myung took office in June.

During his presidential campaign, Lee pledged to push the KOSPI to 5,000 points, promising sweeping capital market reforms to narrow the so-called Korea discount, where local shares trade below their fundamental value.

Market watchers attribute the record-breaking rally to a combination of abundant global liquidity and government stimulus measures. Optimism surrounding artificial intelligence (AI)-driven chip demand also boosted the tech-heavy bourse.

Seoul shares had experienced a 12-session winning streak since the start of the year before taking a brief breather Tuesday and rebounding again the following day.

Overnight, U.S. stocks climbed, recovering a significant portion of losses in the previous session after U.S. President Donald Trump retracted his earlier plan to impose Greenland-related tariffs on eight European nations.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.21 percent, and the S&P 500 added 1.16 percent, while the Nasdaq Composite Index increased 1.18 percent.