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The Korea Exchange located in Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul. / Korea Exchange

The benchmark KOSPI retook the 7,000-point mark for the first time in 15 trading days since August 18.

According to the Korea Exchange on the 8th, the KOSPI traded above the 7,000-point threshold as of 9:03 a.m. The index opened at 7,045.79, up 50.40 points (0.72 percent) from the previous trading session, recovering the 7,000 level right at the opening bell. This marks the first time the index crossed above 7,000 during intraday trading since the 18th of last month.

Following the unveiling of OpenAI's new artificial intelligence (AI) model, Astra, expectations of growing demand for high-performance memory chips have continued, driving gains centered on semiconductor stocks. In early trading, Samsung Electronics gained 0.65 percent and SK Hynix rose 0.50 percent.

Semiconductor shares had also led the index's advance in the previous session. The KOSPI closed up 308.18 points (4.61 percent) from the previous trading day at 6,995.39, finishing just 4.61 points shy of reclaiming the 7,000 mark. Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix surged 5.68 percent and 8.26 percent, respectively.

Substantial buying from foreign and institutional investors also lifted the market. In the main bourse on the previous day, foreign investors net purchased 2.5869 trillion won and institutional investors bought a net 2.6327 trillion won. In contrast, retail investors net sold 6.8212 trillion won to lock in profits.

Recently, the KOSPI has exhibited heightened volatility around the 7,000-point level. On the 18th of last month, the index climbed as high as 7,216.62 early in the session before giving up all of its gains to close at 6,869.83. Intraday swings were substantial at the time, with the gap between the intraday high and low exceeding 400 points.

With semiconductor strength and foreign inflows continuing today, market watchers are focusing on whether the KOSPI can firmly establish itself above the 7,000 mark.

                                                                                                                 Kim So-ra