With the KOSPI index on the verge of a new milestone at 9,000 points, the market closed slightly higher. The index swung widely intraday, but the "Jensen Huang" effect helped the KOSPI set a record high on both an intraday and closing basis again, while Samsung Electronics' market capitalization jumped to No. 10 globally, overtaking U.S. Meta, producing a string of unusual records.
On the 2nd, the KOSPI index closed at 8,801.49, up 13.11 points (0.15%) from the previous trading day. If it rises just 200 more points, Korea's stock market will set another record at 9,000 points.
The KOSPI index opened higher and topped 8,930 points in early trading, coming just a few dozen points short of the 9,000 mark. But as profit-taking poured in from the intraday record high, the index soon turned lower. The KOSPI index even widened its drop to the 8,500 level intraday. After repeated swings, the KOSPI index turned higher late in the session to finish slightly up.
In the main board, foreigners were net sellers of more than 8 trillion won (combined Korea Exchange (KRX) and NEXTRADE (NXT)), but individuals and institutions were net buyers, propping up the index. Most of the net buying funds are estimated to be household money. As foreign funds flowed out en masse, the won-dollar exchange rate ended the week's transactions at 1,516.4 won, up 12.1 won.
Although Middle East risk resurfaced due to the Iran war, appetite for risk assets did not shrink. U.S. Government Bonds yields and international oil prices rose overnight, but U.S. stocks advanced across the board, led by tech shares.
The "Jensen Huang effect" had a bigger impact on Korea's stock market than the Iran situation. With Nvidia's annual artificial intelligence (AI) conference "GTC 2026" under way in Taipei, Taiwan, Nvidia partners also drew attention in our market.
Samsung Electronics, which unveiled for the first time at Taiwan's GTC 2026 venue a physical mock-up of HBM5, the next-generation AI memory and eighth-generation high-bandwidth memory, gained strongly. Samsung Electronics rose 3.3% on the day to top 360,000 won.
According to the global corporations market cap tracking site CompaniesMarketCap.com, Samsung Electronics' market cap stood at $1.526 trillion on the day, edging out U.S. Meta ($1.524 trillion), parent of Facebook and Instagram, to climb one notch from 11th to 10th.
After Jensen Huang expressed willingness to invest in Korea's robotics industry, Doosan Robotics also jumped more than 20%. Reports that Jensen Huang, who is visiting Korea, will meet NC CEO Kim Taek-jin after holding a "second kkanbu meeting" with SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won, Hyundai Motor Group Chairman Chung Eui-sun, LG Group Chairman Koo Kwang-mo, and Naver Chairman Lee Hae-jin sent NC shares sharply higher.
However, profit-taking concentrated in some stocks that had surged, such as Samsung Electro-Mechanics and LG Innotek, pushing their share prices lower.
While the KOSPI index's rally continued, the KOSDAQ market weakened. Despite inflows from foreigners and institutions, major sectors such as secondary batteries and bio fell, leading to a sharp drop. The KOSDAQ index closed at 1,026.03, down 24.00 points (2.29%).