The Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) topped the 3,500 level for the first time on the 2nd. A sharp rally in large-cap semiconductor stocks such as Samsung Electronics and SK hynix is leading the market. It follows news that Samsung and SK joined hands with OpenAI to participate in a 700 trillion won artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure build-out.

Ahead of the Chuseok holiday, on the morning of the 2nd the KOSPI hits a record high as the opening market status appears on the electronic board of Hana Bank dealing room in Jung-gu, Seoul. On the day the KOSPI trades at 34,525.78, up 69.95 points (2.02%) from the previous trading day, and the KOSDAQ index trades at 854.46, up 9.12 points (1.08%) from the previous trading day. In the Seoul foreign exchange market the dollar–won exchange rate trades at 1,402.00 won, down 1.20 won from the previous day. /Courtesy of News1

As of 9:09 a.m. that day, the KOSPI was up 72.62 points (2.10%) from the previous session at 3,528.45.

The KOSPI opened at 3,525.48, up 69.65 points (2.02%) from the previous session. It is the first time ever that the KOSPI has crossed the 3,500 mark intraday.

Among the top market-cap stocks on the main board, moves were mixed, while bellwether Samsung Electronics and SK hynix were leading the market. Samsung Electronics was surging in the 4% range, and SK hynix in the 7% range.

On the previous day (1st), Lee Jae-yong, chairman of Samsung Electronics, and Chey Tae-won, chairman of SK Group, separately signed a memorandum of understanding (LOI, letter of intent) with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman for a partnership on high-bandwidth memory (HBM) in the large-scale AI infrastructure "Stargate Project."

In addition, LG Energy Solution, Samsung Biologics and Hyundai Motor were rising.

At the same time, the KOSDAQ was up 7.31 points (0.86%) from the previous session at 852.65. The KOSDAQ opened 8.06 points (0.95%) higher at 853.40.

Top market-cap stocks on the KOSDAQ were mixed. Alteogen, ECOPRO BM, Peptron, Ecopro, Sam Chun Dang Pharm and HLB were rising, while Rainbow Robotics, PharmaResearch, LigaChem Biosciences and ABL Bio were falling.

Meanwhile, major indexes on Wall Street closed at record highs despite a U.S. federal government shutdown. On the 1st (local time), the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Standard & Poor's (S&P) 500 set fresh records.

The Dow rose 43.21 points (0.09%) to finish at 46,441.10, and the S&P 500 closed up 22.74 points (0.34%) at 6,711.20. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite ended up 95.15 points (0.42%) at 22,755.16.

Although the U.S. federal government shutdown has begun, the market appeared to judge that the impact on the real economy would be limited. Past U.S. shutdowns have generally ended within one to two weeks, with limited economic impact. The longest shutdown on record lasted 35 days.

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