SEOUL, February 12 (AJP) —South Korea’s benchmark KOSPI towered over regional peers on Thursday, setting a fresh record above the 5,500 mark on strong foreign and institutional buying.
The benchmark index rose 3.1 percent to close at 5,522.3, up 167.8 points on the session.
Foreign investors bought a net 3.0013 trillion won ($2.08 billion), while institutions added 1.3668 trillion won. Retail investors sold 4.4474 trillion won, locking in gains after the recent rally.
Large-cap technology shares led the advance. Samsung Electronics jumped 6.4 percent to 178,600 won after announcing shipments of its HBM4 memory chips, with performance said to exceed industry standards.
Woori Technology rose 10.3 percent to 13,620 won, while POSCO DX gained 9.4 percent to 41,150 won amid renewed attention on automation and robotics themes ahead of the “AW 2026” smart factory and automation exhibition, which will feature major Chinese technology brands.
Hyundai ADM Bio surged 30 percent to 5,680 won following research updates related to drug-delivery mechanisms in cancer treatment.
Among decliners, Hyundai Motor fell 0.6 percent to 506,000 won, LG Electronics dropped 5.1 percent to 121,400 won after the previous session’s sharp gains, and Kakao edged down 0.2 percent to 58,800 won.
The tech-heavy KOSDAQ rose 3.5 percent to 816.3, up 27.5 points.
On the secondary board, foreigners sold a net 105 billion won, while institutions and retail investors bought 69.1 billion won and 85.6 billion won, respectively.
The Korean won strengthened against the U.S. dollar, closing at 1,441.4 per dollar, up 6.6 won, or 0.5 percent. The dollar index stood at 96.94, reflecting broader dollar softness.
In the region, Japan’s Nikkei 225 slipped 0.02 percent to 57,639.8 after gaining a cumulative 3,832.5 points between Feb. 6 and Feb. 10 ahead of the general election.
China’s Shanghai Composite closed at 4,134.02, extending its advance, with the index up 68.4 points over the past four sessions since Feb. 9.
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