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Seoul stocks soar to record high, breaching 4,200 mark for 1st time

Published: 03 Nov. 2025, 17:22

A screen in Hana Bank's trading room in central Seoul shows the Kospi closing at 4,221.87 points on Nov. 3, up 114.37 points, or 2.78 percent, from the previous trading session. [YONHAP]

Shares surged nearly 2.8 percent Monday to again set an all-time high, led by sharp gains in big-cap chip and defense shares. The local currency lost ground against the U.S. dollar.

The Kospi skyrocketed 114.37 points, or 2.78 percent, to 4,221.87.

It marked the first time in history the Kospi surpassed the 4,200 mark. The achievement was made just a session after the index breached the 4,100 mark for the first time Friday.

Trade volume was heavy at 468 million shares worth 22.5 trillion won ($15.7 billion), with losers outnumbering winners 611 to 288.

Retail investors went on a buying spree, net purchasing 651.2 billion won worth of local shares, while institutions bought 185.4 billion won. Foreign investors, however, unloaded a net 795 billion won in apparent profit-taking.

"The domestic stock market continued to see positive momentum following the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation gathering last week," Lee Kyoung-min, an analyst at Daishin Securities, said.

"In particular, Nvidia's announcement on Friday to supply up to 260,000 units of AI chips to Korea boosted the Kospi, fueling expectations for an expansion of data centers and AI partnerships," Lee added, noting shares related to semiconductor, electric power equipment and renewable energy were bullish.

The Kospi's rise came in line with major U.S. indexes, which closed higher Friday on the back of sharp gains in Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Tesla. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.09 percent, the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite increased 0.61 percent, and the S&P 500 added 0.26 percent.

Shares in AWS surged 9.58 percent on an upbeat earnings forecast, and those in Tesla jumped 3.74 percent on news its self-driving robotaxi will make its Asian debut in China.

In Seoul, tech behemoth Samsung Electronics rose 3.35 percent to a record high of 111,100 won, while its chipmaking rival SK hynix shot up 10.91 percent, also to its highest-ever mark of 620,000 won, continuing their recent rally sparked by growing optimism for the AI sector.

The AI optimism also boosted information technology and energy shares.

Internet portal operator Naver climbed 2.62 percent to 274,500 won, and the state-run Korea Electric Power escalated 5.99 percent to 45,100 won. HD Hyundai Electric shot up 9.08 percent to 949,000 won.

AI investment firm SK Square stepped up 8.65 percent to 282,500 won.

Defense and shipbuilding shares were bullish, with major firms posting robust third-quarter earnings.

Defense industry leader Hanwha Aerospace jumped 6.44 percent to 1.04 million won after the company said its third-quarter net income more than doubled from a year ago on solid growth in both domestic and overseas sales.

Hyundai Rotem soared 6.07 percent to 244,500 won after it posted record earnings on strong exports.

Major shipbuilder HD Hyundai Heavy gained 1.17 percent to 607,000 won, while its rivals — Hanwha Ocean and HD Korea Shipbuilding — expanded 0.89 percent and 1.16 percent to 138,800 won and 479,500 won, respectively.

But major automaker Kia lost 1.83 percent to 117,700 won.

The Korean won was quoted at 1,428.8 won per dollar at 3:30 p.m., up 0.29 percent from the previous session of 1,424.7 won.

Bond prices, which move inversely to yields, closed lower. The yield on three-year Treasurys added 2.5 basis points to 2.741 percent, and the return on the benchmark five-year government bonds rose 2.8 basis points to 2.883 percent.

Yonhap