Kosdaq soars to highest point in more than 25 years

Dealers at the Hana Bank headquarters' dealing room in central Seoul celebrate after the secondary bourse Kosdaq closed at 1,064.41 points, Monday, surpassing the 1,000-point mark at closing for the first time in more than four years. Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul

The secondary bourse Kosdaq soared to its highest level in more than 25 years, Monday, finishing above 1,000 points and adding momentum to the accelerated rally alongside the benchmark KOSPI.

The index ended at 1,064.41 points, up 70.48 points, or 7.09 percent, from the previous session, maintaining its upward momentum after opening strong at 1,003.90 points.

It was the first time since Jan. 5, 2022, that the Kosdaq closed above the 1,000-point mark. In paricular, Monday's closing figure was the highest since Sept. 6, 2000, when it reached 1074.10 points.

The Kosdaq 150 futures index — a basket of the top 150 stocks — rose 6.29 percent at one point, breaching the 6 percent threshold and triggering a five-minute buying sidecar halt on program trading, the first such occurrence in nine months.

Institutional investors drove the market, with net purchases of 2.6 trillion won ($1.8 billion), while foreign investors have also been net buyers, purchasing 431 billion won.

In contrast, individual investors net sold 2.9 trillion won.

Among the top cap stocks were Alteogen, which gained 4.77 percent to 406,000 won, EcoPro, which gained 19.91 percent to 209,000 won and EcoPro BM, which went up 22.95 percent to 130,200 won.

Analysts said the government’s blueprint to spur the junior bourse appears to be boosting market investment.

For instance, the government announced plans to boost tax incentives for investors and increase the National Pension Service’s allocation to Kosdaq.

“All these efforts appear to be beginning to pay off,” said Jung Eui-jung, head of the Korean Stockholders’ Alliance.

Daishin Securities analyst Jung Hae-chang forecast that Kosdaq may “have more room to grow than the KOSPI depending on government policy,” noting that the junior bourse grew about 36 percent compared with the benchmark index’s 75 percent in 2025.

Meanwhile, the KOSPI fell 40.48 points, or 0.81 percent, to close at 4,949.59 points, Monday. The index had surpassed the 5,000-point milestone for the first time during intraday trading on Thursday.