South Korea’s stock markets scaled a historic peak on Monday, as the total valuation of listed companies moved past the 6,000 trillion won ($4.1 trillion) mark for the first time during trading hours. According to figures cited by The Korea Herald, based on data from the Korea Exchange, the combined market capitalisation of domestic bourses rose to 6,031.97 trillion won in early deals. Of this, the Kospi made up the largest share at 5,354.36 trillion won, followed by the Kosdaq at 673.97 trillion won and the Konex at 3.64 trillion won. “The milestone comes as the Kospi extended its rally, opening higher and climbing to an intraday record of 6,603.01, surpassing the 6,600 mark for the first time,” the report said. The broader strength in equities was also visible in the Kosdaq, which advanced over 1 per cent. The index had already crossed the 1,200 level last Friday, a threshold it had not breached in roughly 25 years. Heavyweight stocks remained at the forefront of the rally through the morning session. “As of 10:35 a.m., Samsung Electronics rose 1.25 per cent to 222,250 won. SK hynix surged 5.32 per cent to reach 1,287,000 won, which represented a fresh all-time high for the semiconductor company,” the report highlighted. Elsewhere in Asia, market performance was uneven, though gains were largely concentrated in North Asia’s technology-heavy segments. By 12:20 pm IST, Taiwan’s Weighted index was up 1.73 per cent, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 1.18 per cent, supported by a broader upswing in semiconductor and artificial intelligence-linked stocks globally. However, sentiment was not uniformly positive across the region. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng and Singapore’s Straits Times index were trading lower, down 0.25% and 0.57% respectively, as investors remained watchful of ongoing geopolitical tensions in the Middle East and the resulting uncertainty in global energy supplies.
