[Breaking] KOSPI Soars from New Year's Day… Closes at Record High 4309

On the 2nd, the first trading day of the Byeong-o year (丙午年), the KOSPI surpassed 4300 for the first time in history.

That day, the KOSPI closed at 4309.63, up 95.46 points (2.27%) from the previous trading day. The KOSPI, which began trading around the 4210 level, surged as high as 4313.55 intraday. That day, the KOSPI set record highs both intraday and at the close.

The previous closing record was 4221.87, recorded on November 4 last year. The intraday record was 4226.75, recorded on the 3rd of the same month.

In the KOSPI market, foreign investors net-bought 712.5 billion won, lifting the index. Foreign investors were net sellers in the early session but switched to net buying during the session. Individuals and institutions were net sellers of 481.7 billion won and 272.8 billion won, respectively.

Leading semiconductor stocks Samsung Electronics(7.17%) and SK Hynix(3.99%) stood out. Intraday, Samsung Electronics rose to 128,500 won and SK Hynix rose to 679,000 won, both setting record highs. SK Square, the largest shareholder of SK Hynix, also rose 6.52%.

This is interpreted as due to expectations that the semiconductor industry's boom will continue this year, following record-high semiconductor exports in December last year. Semiconductor exports in December last year were $20.77 billion, up 43.2% from the same period a year earlier, marking the highest ever performance as exports rose for the tenth consecutive month.

Celltrion (11.88%), which had signaled strong results, was also strong. On the 31st of last month, Celltrion provisionally disclosed that its consolidated operating profit for Q4 last year was 472.2 billion won, a 140.4% increase year-on-year.

Other gainers included Samsung C&T (2.3%), Naver (1.86%), Hyundai Motor (0.67%), and Hanwha Aerospace (0.53%). LG Energy Solution (-2.04%) and KB Financial Group (-1.12%) were down.

The KOSDAQ index also closed at 945.57, up 20.1 points (2.17%) from the previous session — a 52-week high.

In the KOSDAQ market, foreign investors and institutions net-bought 131.7 billion won and 89.7 billion won, respectively, driving the rally. Individuals net-sold 215.0 billion won, unloading shares.

Top market-cap KOSDAQ stocks showed mixed results. PharmaResearch (7.69%), Rino Industrial (7.63%), Samchundang Pharm (5.16%), Rainbow Robotics (4.89%), HLB (4.13%), Caregen (2.79%), and Alteogen (1.67%) closed higher.

On the other hand, Kolon TissueGene (-10.18%), EcoPro BM (-3.34%), Peptron (-2.76%), EcoPro (-2.75%), ABL Bio (-2.25%), LigaChem Bio (-1.67%), and Voronoi (-1.15%) were down.

The won-dollar exchange rate closed the weekly trading at 1,441.8 won, up 2.8 won from the previous session.

Lee Kyung-min, a researcher at Daishin Securities, said, "Expectations have flowed in ahead of Samsung Electronics' earnings announcement on the 8th. SK Hynix is also expected to achieve operating profit in the 100 trillion won range this year," and added, "The materials, parts and equipment (materials-parts-equipment) sector has also shown strength, spreading a favorable tide across growth stocks, leading to joint rises in the KOSPI and KOSDAQ."

Jin Young-gi Hankyung.com reporter young71@hankyung.com