Kospi Tops 8,600 Early on Hopes for US-Iran Deal; Market Cap Exceeds 7,000 Trillion Won

Kosdaq snaps four-session losing streak

South Korea’s Kospi climbed above 8,600 early Monday on hopes the US and Iran will reach an agreement to end the war. The benchmark’s market capitalization also moved past 7,000 trillion won.

As of 9:13 a.m. on June 1, the Kospi was up 102.43 points, or 1.21%, from the previous session at 8,578.58. The index opened 0.11% higher and extended gains, touching as high as 8,623 in early trading.

After the Kospi rose above 8,600, its market capitalization exceeded 7,000 trillion won. The Korea Exchange said Kospi market value stood at about 7,035 trillion won as of 9:09 a.m.

The advance came on expectations for a US-Iran agreement to end the war. The two sides are in late-stage coordination ahead of talks on a final deal. Iran’s Tasnim News Agency reported on May 31 that Tehran plans to present a new revised proposal after President Donald Trump was said to have demanded additional concessions before giving final approval to a draft memorandum of understanding aimed at ending the conflict.

US stocks reflected that optimism in the last trading session of the previous week, with all three major indexes hitting record highs.

At this time, retail and institutional investors were net buyers of 1.2304 trillion won and 300.6 billion won, respectively, on the main bourse. Foreign investors were net sellers of 1.483 trillion won.

The two semiconductor heavyweights moved in opposite directions. Samsung Electronics rose 10,500 won, or 3.31%, to 327,500 won, while SK Hynix fell 1.37%.

Among other large-cap stocks, Hyundai Motor gained 7.33%, Hyundai Mobis rose 6.51%, Samsung C&T added 4.97% and Samsung Life Insurance advanced 1.93%. Samsung Electro-Mechanics fell 5.55%, HD Hyundai Heavy Industries slipped 1.15% and SK Square lost 1.05%. LG, LG Electronics and LG CNS each surged more than 20% early in the session as expectations for physical AI businesses grew ahead of Nvidia Chief Executive Officer Jensen Huang’s visit to South Korea this week.

The Kosdaq was also rebounding. As of this time, the junior index was down 7.48 points, or 0.73%, at 1,082.69. On the Kosdaq market, retail investors were net sellers of 132.9 billion won, while foreign and institutional investors were net buyers of 126.4 billion won and 4.9 billion won, respectively.

Robot-related shares including Robostar, Robotis, Rainbow Robotics and Hurim Robot were also drawing buying interest on the Kosdaq.

The won opened lower against the dollar. In Seoul trading, the won-dollar exchange rate started at 1,508.8 won per dollar, up 0.9 won from the previous session.

Lee Su, Hankyung.com reporter, 2su@hankyung.com