An electronic board at a Woori Bank dealing room in Seoul shows the Kospi trading up 0.82 percent at 6,746.08 on Thursday morning. (Yonhap)
An electronic board at a Woori Bank dealing room in Seoul shows the Kospi trading up 0.82 percent at 6,746.08 on Thursday morning. (Yonhap)

Seoul's benchmark Kospi opened at a record high Thursday, breaching the 6,700 mark as foreign investors started the session as net buyers.

The index began trading up 0.72 percent at 6,739.39, before quickly climbing as high as 6,750.27. The rally extended gains from the previous session, when the Kospi crossed 6,700 intraday for the first time before closing at an all-time high of 6,690.

If the Kospi extends gains through Thursday's close, it would mark the index's fourth consecutive record closing high.

Foreign buying drove the early advance. Overseas investors had net bought nearly 400 billion won ($269.7 million) by 9:08 a.m., while retail investors started the day as net sellers. Institutions also turned net buyers within the first few minutes of trading.

The secondary Kosdaq opened 0.37 percent higher at 1,224.75.


jwc@heraldcorp.com