Seoul stocks shrug off Trump’s tariff hike

Korea Exchange (KRX) staff celebrate as the benchmark KOSPI finishes at 5,084.85 points to close above 5,000 for the first time, at the KRX office in Seoul’s financial district of Yeouido, Tuesday. Yonhap

A bullish Korean stock market shrugged off U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff hike, Tuesday, with the benchmark KOSPI hitting a record closing high above 5,000 points and Kosdaq surpassing the key 1,000-point threshold for the second consecutive day.

The Korean currency dipped to the 1,450 won-to-dollar level during onshore trading but later recovered to the 1,440 level for a second consecutive session, finishing at 1,446.2 won per dollar.

This upswing in the stock and foreign exchange markets came after Trump unexpectedly announced through social media plans to raise blanket tariffs on Korean imports.

The U.S. had initially imposed a 25 percent rate in April 2025, which was later reduced to 15 percent in July and reaffirmed during the bilateral summit in October.

He accused Korea of making insufficient progress on implementing the trade deal and threatened to revert the rate to 25 percent.

Despite the rising trade tensions, KOSPI ended at 5,084.85 points, Tuesday, advancing 2.73 percent to close above 5,000 points for the first time since its baseline was set at 100 points on Jan. 4, 1980.

Although the main index breached the 5,000-point mark for the first time during intraday trading last Thursday, it did not close above that threshold.

Foreign and institutional investors were net buyers of more than 850 billion won ($587.99 million) and 230 billion won in stocks, respectively, offsetting the 1.02 trillion won in net selling by retail investors.

Among the market bellwethers, Samsung Electronics climbed 4.87 percent to close at 159,500 won, while rival SK hynix surged 8.7 percent to 800,000 won.

SK Square also rose 7.26 percent, while Doosan Enerbility gained 1.96 percent, KB Financial advanced 5.54 percent, and Samsung C&T edged up 0.17 percent.

But some top stocks fell, including those in the auto and pharmaceutical sectors, which Trump specifically cited for the 25 percent tariffs.

Hyundai Motor and Kia slid 0.81 percent and 1.1 percent, respectively, while Samsung Biologics retreated 0.94 percent.

The secondary bourse Kosdaq rose 1.71 percent to close at 1,082.59 points, remaining above the 1,000-point mark after topping that level for the first time in more than four years, Monday.

Institutional investors drove the market with net purchases of 1.6 trillion won, while foreign and retail investors recorded net sales of 115 billion won and 1.4 trillion won, respectively.

Among the top cap stocks were Alteogen, which gained 0.49 percent to 408,000 won, EcoPro, which gained 2.15 percent to 213,500 won and EcoPro BM, which went up 6.3 percent to 138,400 won.