A trading board at Hana Bank's dealing room in Seoul shows the Kospi closing at 3,883.68, gaining 59.84 points or 1.56 percent from the previous session, Wednesday. (Yonhap)
A trading board at Hana Bank's dealing room in Seoul shows the Kospi closing at 3,883.68, gaining 59.84 points or 1.56 percent from the previous session, Wednesday. (Yonhap)

The South Korean benchmark Kospi reached a new high as of closing Wednesday, demonstrating the strength of its upward momentum.

The Kospi closed at 3,883.68, gaining 59.84 points or 1.56 percent from the previous session, setting a new closing record and surpassing the 3,823.84 level reached in the prior trading day.

After opening at 3,827.23, the index quickly lost steam and fell below the 3,800 mark, dipping to the low of 3,794.52 in the early trading hours.

It soon reversed course and returned to the positive territory before noon, and mostly extended its gain in the following trading hours, closing the day at its intraday high of 3,883.68.

Though it failed to set a new intraday trading high, falling short of the record set at 3,893.06 on the previous day, the Kospi managed to close at a record high for the sixth consecutive trading day.

Market bellwether Samsung Electronics wrapped up trading at 98,600 won ($70), gaining 1.13 percent on-session. SK hynix closed at 481,500 won, rising by 0.52 percent. LG Energy Solution surged 4 percent to 454,500 won.

While retail and foreign investors were net sellers on the bourse, offloading 54.9 billion won and 724.9 billion won, respectively, institutional investors held the line, injecting 763 billion won in bargain hunting.

"The positive sentiment for the Kospi has been sustained by the global stock market’s artificial intelligence momentum, expectations for government policies and optimism surrounding trade negotiations," Han Ji-young, an analyst at Daishin Securities, noted.

"Bargain-hunting activity has consistently supported the index’s downside during market corrections."


silverstar@heraldcorp.com