South Korean stocks opened at a fresh record high on Monday, boosted by semiconductor gains even as concerns mounted over a potential breakdown in the US-Iran peace deal.
The benchmark Kospi index opened at 7,775.31, up 277.31 points or 3.7 percent, and briefly topped 7,800 before settling at 7,763.27 by 9:15 a.m., a gain of 3.54 percent.
Samsung Electronics rose 5.21 percent and SK hynix jumped 8.54 percent, tracking Friday's Wall Street rally where Micron gained 15.49 percent and AMD advanced 11.44 percent.
The Korea Exchange triggered a five-minute buy-side sidecar halt at 9:29 a.m. after Kospi 200 futures rose more than 5 percent. The won traded at 1,467.9 per dollar, up 3.8 won from the previous session.
