Overview
- South Korea’s benchmark closed up 0.51% at 4,129.68, extending late-December momentum led by large-cap chipmakers.
- Samsung Electronics jumped 5.31% to an all-time high of 117,000 won after unconfirmed reports that it developed a smartphone GPU, while SK hynix rose 1.87% to 599,000 won.
- Foreign investors bought a net 1.78 trillion won and institutions added 388 billion won as retail investors sold 2.2 trillion won.
- The won strengthened to 1,440.3 per dollar as the National Pension Service resumed FX hedging, following this week’s verbal intervention by currency authorities.
- The advance caps a year in which the KOSPI topped 4,000 and gained over 70% on AI-driven chip demand, with brokerages projecting further 2026 gains in some cases toward 5,500, though currency weakness remains a key risk.