As the U.S.-Iran war moved toward an end, Korea's stock market surged. After U.S. President Donald Trump said a peace agreement to end the war with Iran was imminent, the KOSPI started with a jump of about 6% and recovered to the 8,400 level intraday.
The KOSPI closed at 8,123.62, up 359.62 points (4.63%). After a sharp rise at the open to 8,263.85, up 6.44%, the KOSPI at one point soared more than 8% intraday, climbing to the 8,400 level.
A "cease-fire tailwind" from the United States lifted Korea's stock market. U.S. President Donald Trump, who had said he would seize and bomb Kharg Island, a key Iranian oil infrastructure hub, reversed course within hours.
Trump said, "We made a great deal regarding the war with Iran," adding that "only final document coordination remains." He also said the final signing of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to end the war was imminent. As geopolitical jitters in the Middle East subsided, the market, which had seesawed all week, turned higher. As the index jumped early in the session, a "buy sidecar" was triggered, temporarily pausing program buy quotes.
Foreign investors also returned to the main board after a long time. Turning net buyers for the first time in 25 sessions, foreigners bought more than 2.7 trillion won. Institutions were also net buyers of more than 3 trillion won. Individuals, by contrast, were net sellers of more than 5.5 trillion won.
Semiconductor heavyweights led the main board again. On news that Samsung Electronics would handle part of the production of Google's next-generation in-house artificial intelligence (AI) chips, Samsung Electronics closed up more than 7%.
SK hynix pared intraday gains to finish up a little over 2%, but SK Square jumped more than 10%.
However, some profit-taking emerged in department store and cosmetics stocks, which had played a defensive role during the correction. Hyundai Department Store fell 5%, Shinsegae dropped a little over 2%. APR also closed down 4%.
The KOSDAQ index also rose for the first time in a while, breaking back above 1,000 points. The KOSPI closed at 1,029.05, up 3.22% (32.12 points) from the previous day.
Kang Jin-hyeok, senior researcher at Shinhan Investment & Securities, said, "As concentration in large caps eased discount-rate pressures, major sectors strengthened and returned to 1,000 points."