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Seoul stocks soar nearly 7 percent to fresh high on bargain hunting

Published: 03 Feb. 2026, 17:52

A screen in Hana Bank's trading room in central Seoul shows the Kospi closing at 5,288.08 points on Feb. 3, up 333.41 points, or 6.84 percent, from the previous trading session. [YONHAP]

Share prices experienced their sharpest daily spike in six years on Tuesday, rebounding from the previous session's deep trough, as investors brushed off concerns over the newly nominated Federal Reserve chair and went bargain hunting. The won also rose against the dollar.

The Kospi climbed 338.41 points, or 6.84 percent, to close at a new high of 5,288.08, a sharp upturn from the previous day's plummet.

It marked the steepest daily increase since March 24, 2020, when the index rose by 8.6 percent, according to data provided by the Korea Exchange (KRX), Korea's main bourse operator.

Trade volume was heavy at 666.5 million shares worth 29.3 trillion won ($20.3 billion). Winners outnumbered losers 825 to 75.

Strong buying demand triggered the KRX to temporarily suspend stock purchases in early trading.

The temporary halt in trading, also known as a "sidecar" in Korea, came a day after the bourse operator issued a sidecar for sell orders, with the Kospi plunging by more than 5 percent.

The last time the KRX consecutively issued a sell-side and a buy-side sidecar was on April 7 and 8, following U.S. President Donald Trump's announcement of sweeping tariffs, Lee Kyoung-min, an analyst from Daishin Securities, said.

"As there was no change in the market's fundamentals, the benchmark index recovered on bargain hunting," he said.

On a similar note, JP Morgan raised its target for the Kospi to a range of 6,000 to 7,500 in a report released Tuesday, citing strong delivery in other sectors, such as defense and shipbuilding.

Foreign and Institutional investors turned net buyers, scooping up 703.3 billion won and 2.2 trillion won of equities, respectively. Retail investors sold off a net 2.9 trillion won.

Large-cap shares ended higher across the board.

Market top-cap Samsung Electronics soared 11.37 percent to 167,500 won, while its rival SK hynix advanced 9.28 percent to 907,000 won.

Defense giant Hanwha Aerospace rose 4.84 percent to 1,299,000 won, top carmaker Hyundai Motor added 2.82 percent to 491,500 won, and major financial group KB Financial closed up 3.81 percent to 138,800 won.

The local currency rose 18.9 won from the previous session to trade at 1,445.4 won against the greenback at 3:30 p.m.

Bond prices, which move inversely to yields, closed lower. The yield on three-year Treasurys rose 3.7 basis points to 3.189 percent, and the return on the benchmark five-year government bonds added 4.7 basis points to 3.495 percent.

Yonhap