KOSPI marches toward historic 6,000 points

The benchmark KOSPI surged past 5,900 points during intraday trading, Monday, moving closer to the unprecedented 6,000-point mark just about a month after finishing above 5,000 points for the first time. The main index got off to a strong start, rising 1.63 percent to open at 5,903.11 points and quickly climbing to 5,931.86 points, following the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling last week against global tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump. The index later pared gains and closed at 5,846.09 points. Retail investors were net buyers of more than 1.08 trillion won ($749.39 million) worth of stocks, while foreign and institutional investors were net sellers of over 1.09 trillion won and 142 billion won, respectively. Hyundai Motor posted the steepest gain among the top 10 stocks, rising 2.75 percent to 523,000 won after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Trump’s 10 percent baseline import duty last Friday. Sister company Kia gained 0.52 percent to 172,700 won, as the Korean auto industry had been among the hardest hit by the tariffs, which varied by country and product. Market bellwether Sa