Korea’s KOSPI enters era of 8,000 points

May 15, 2026, 10:08 am

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A ceremony celebrating the KOSPI surpassing the 8,000-point mark is held at the dealing room of Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul on May 15. /Yonhap

South Korea’s benchmark KOSPI index surpassed the 8,000-point mark for the first time ever on Friday, extending a historic rally fueled by strong global technology stocks and improving investor sentiment.

As of 9:20 a.m., the KOSPI stood at 8,015.49, up 34.08 points, or 0.43 percent, from the previous session.

The breakthrough came just nine days after the index first crossed the 7,000-point threshold on May 6, reaching the 8,000 milestone in only seven trading sessions.

The KOSPI has climbed at an unprecedented pace over the past several months. After first surpassing 4,000 points intraday on Oct. 27 last year, the index moved above 5,000 on Jan. 22, topped 6,000 on Feb. 25 and later broke through 7,000 earlier this month before reaching the latest milestone.

The index initially opened lower at 7,951.75, down 29.66 points from the previous close, but later reversed course and extended gains. At one point, it rose as high as 8,028.43.

Retail investors were the primary drivers of the rally, purchasing a net 7.64 trillion won worth of shares on the KOSPI market. Foreign and institutional investors, meanwhile, were net sellers of 7.44 trillion won and 414 billion won, respectively.

The surge followed strong gains on Wall Street overnight, where the three major U.S. stock indexes all closed higher amid a continuing rally in technology shares.

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite rose 0.77 percent and 0.88 percent, respectively, both setting new record highs, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 0.75 percent.

Investor sentiment also improved after U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping signaled stronger bilateral cooperation during their summit in Beijing.

Shares of NVIDIA climbed 4.39 percent after CEO Jensen Huang joined the U.S. delegation visiting China, raising expectations for expanded sales of the company’s H200 chips in the Chinese market.

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