Seoul stocks opened sharply higher on Monday, with the KOSPI index rising more than 1% and hitting a fresh intraday record, despite fading hopes for a US-Iran peace breakthrough over the weekend. US President Donald Trump canceled a planned trip by US negotiators to Pakistan, while Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi headed to Russia.
The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 69.95 points, or 1.08 percent, to 6,545.58 in the first 15 minutes of trading on Monday. Soon after opening, the index hit a fresh intraday record of 6,557.78 points.
Wall Street indexes closed mixed on Friday amid investor hopes for progress in US-Iran peace talks during Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi's second visit to Pakistan last week. Those hopes faded after US President Donald Trump announced the cancellation of US negotiators' weekend trip to Pakistan. Iran's state media reported Araghchi is traveling to Russia to meet President Vladimir Putin on Monday. Over the weekend, a gunman opened fire near a security checkpoint at the White House correspondents' dinner, leading to Trump's evacuation from the event.
The series of events has not rattled financial markets, said Lee Kyoung-soo, an analyst at Hana Securities, as investors shifted focus to policy decisions from major central banks and upcoming earnings from big tech firms including Microsoft, Apple, and Meta. Investors are also eyeing local companies' earnings season, Lee added.
Most large-cap shares in Seoul traded higher. Market bellwether Samsung Electronics added 0.91 percent, chipmaker SK hynix rose 4.83 percent, top carmaker Hyundai Motor gained 0.78 percent, and shipbuilder HD Hyundai Heavy Industries advanced 1.79 percent. Defense firm Hanwha Aerospace fell 0.68 percent. The Korean won traded at 1,477 won against the US dollar, up 7.5 won from the previous session.
