This photo, taken Tuesday, shows the trading room of Hana Bank in central Seoul as South Korean stocks reached a new high amid hopes for U.S.-Iran peace talks. Photo by Yonhap
Around two months after an extreme rout caused by the Middle East crisis, South Korea’s stock market showed a dramatic return on Tuesday by setting a new record high amid hopes for the U.S.-Iran peace talks and the revival of a tech rally.
The benchmark KOSPI closed 2.72 percent higher at 6,388.47 points.
The previous high was recorded on Feb. 26, when the benchmark index closed at 6,307.27.
Market capitalization of the KOSPI-listed firms also swelled to a record high of 5,236 trillion won, according to the Korea Exchange, the country’s main bourse operator.
Seoul shares had been suffering extreme volatility since the onset of the war between the United States and Iran, once falling by as much as 12 percent in a single trading day and rising by as much as 9 percent.
The country’s stock market braced for the sharpest drop of over 19 percent among global peers in March, as the Middle East crisis fueled woes over high inflation and an economic slowdown, according to data from Yonhap Infomax, the financial arm of Yonhap News Agency.
Global oil prices soared to record highs topping US$100 per barrel following Iran’s closure of the Hormuz Strait, a key oil route.
The new milestone comes as investors are showing reduced sensitivity to the developments in the Middle East and pinning hopes on progress in the U.S.-Iran peace talks, while optimism over South Korea’s major chipmakers reemerges, according to Han Ji-young, an analyst at Kiwoom Securities.
Such a trend was also seen among foreign investors, who have returned to the local market after net selling a record amount of 35 trillion won (US$23.8 billion) worth of local stocks last month, he added.
Investors are now turning their focus to corporate earnings, especially those from SK hynix Inc., set to release its first-quarter earnings this week.
Samsung Electronics Co., the country’s top cap, reported record-high earnings results in the first quarter, announcing an operating profit of over 50 trillion won, aided by spiking demand for chips amid a boom in artificial intelligence (AI).
Market watchers expect SK hynix will also deliver a “super” earnings surprise for the first quarter, led by robust sales of its high bandwidth memory (HBM) used in AI and a tight supply for DRAM chips.
The government’s initiatives to enhance shareholder returns and reform the capital markets could open up space for a further advance in the KOSPI’s momentum, market watchers said.
Despite looming geopolitical uncertainties and an approaching deadline to the two-week ceasefire set to expire on Wednesday (Washington time), views from global banks on the local market remain bullish.
Goldman Sachs has recently raised its 12-month target for the KOSPI from 7,000 points to 8,000 points, citing improving fundamentals across industries.
JPMorgan Chase & Co. said South Korea still remains among the bank’s “top preferred markets” in the region, raising its “bull” case for the KOSPI to 8,500 points.
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