South Korean stocks rose 4.63% to 8,420.27 in early Seoul trading on May 27, extending gains after the KOSPI’s first close above 8,000 at 8,047.51 on May 26.

The Korea Composite Stock Price Index had briefly crossed 8,000 intraday six trading days earlier.

The advance prompted a five-minute suspension of buy orders in KOSPI futures at 9:06 a.m. under the Korea Exchange’s buy-side sidecar volatility-control mechanism.

Samsung Electronics jumped 7.02%, and SK hynix rose 9.99%, while Hyundai Motor fell 0.73%, and LG Energy Solution slipped 0.75%.

The rally in chip stocks followed record closes for the S&P 500 and Nasdaq in the US. The broader move was driven by semiconductor gains and renewed Middle East tensions.

Gains in Samsung Electronics and SK hynix also aligned with strong high-bandwidth memory demand tied to AI infrastructure.

🔗 Source: Yonhap

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