South Korea's KOSPI Tops 8,000 Points for First Time, Driven by Tech Shares

SEOUL, May 15 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's stock market opened a new chapter Friday, topping the historic landmark of 8,000 points, driven by a continued rally of large-cap tech shares. After opening a tad lower, the benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) turned higher to breach the unprecedented 8,000 points. As of 9:15 a.m., the index had added 19.99 points, or 0.25 percent, to 8,001.4. It took just a little over a week for the index to hit the new milestone after topping the 7,000-point mark on May 6. The index had delivered a record-breaking run for five straight sessions until Monday on the extended rally of semiconductor shares buoyed by an optimistic outlook for continued growth of the artificial intelligence (AI) sector. The local stock market took a breather Tuesday amid little progress in peace talks between the United States and Iran, but Seoul shares rallied again to end at a fresh peak of 7,981.41 on Thursday. Overnight, the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite closed 0.88 percent higher, and the S&P 500 added 0.77 percent, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.75. Investor sentiment was uplifted by news that U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed that Iran can never have a nuclear weapon and the Strait of Hormuz, a major oil shipping route, must remain open during their summit in Beijing on Thursday. A rally in artificial intelligence-related shares also boosted the U.S. market, with Nvidia jumping 4.39 percent, Cisco Systems surging 13.41 percent, Broadcom climbing 5.52 percent and TSMC adding 4.48 percent.