The KOSPI, which has topped the 3,400 mark, is extending gains. However, compared with the early session when it rose to the 3,420 level, the advance has narrowed.
As of 11:20 a.m. on the 15th, the Korea Exchange and others said the KOSPI index was at 3,406.014, up 10.60 points (0.31%) from the previous session.
The index started transaction at 3,407.78, up 12.24 points (0.36%) from the previous session, and at the open surpassed the 3,400 mark for the first time ever. It renewed an intraday all-time high for the fourth straight day and rose to as high as 3,420.23 early in the session.
Foreign investors and individuals are buying, leading the index higher. They are net buyers of 126.9 billion won and 114.7 billion won, respectively. Institutions are net sellers of 195.3 billion won.
With hopes for U.S. rate cuts keeping semiconductor shares buoyant, the government further stoked the rally by saying it would keep the threshold for the stock capital gains tax on large shareholders unchanged.
Earlier in the morning, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Ministry of Economy and Finance Koo Yoon-cheol said at the National Assembly, "To revitalize the capital market, we decided to keep the large-shareholder threshold at the current 5 billion won."
By stock, Samsung Electronics and SK hynix, the two "twin tops" of market capitalization on the main bourse (KOSPI), are leading the index higher with gains of 1.72% and 0.61%, respectively.
Compared with early trading, when Samsung Electronics shares rose more than 2% to hit a 52-week high, the advance has narrowed, and LG Energy Solution, Samsung Biologics, and Hyundai Motor are weaker.
Park Sung-chul, an analyst at Yuanta Securities Korea, said, "The leading stocks that drove the KOSPI's record-setting rally have turned weaker on profit-taking," and analyzed that "large-cap semiconductor stocks also pared intraday gains."
At the same time, the KOSDAQ index was at 846.82, down 1.96 points (0.03%) from the previous session. The index started at 849.64, up 2.56 points (0.30%) from the previous session, then turned slightly lower intraday.
Individuals are net buyers of 270.7 billion won, but both foreign investors and institutions chose to "sell." Foreign investors are net sellers of 167.4 billion won and institutions 48.3 billion won.
Among top market-cap stocks, performance is mixed. Share prices of ECOPRO BM and Rainbow Robotics are rising, while bio stocks such as Alteogen, Peptron, and PharmaResearch are weak.