Samsung Electronics' market cap hits world top 10, surpassing Meta; South Korean market ranks 6th globally

Samsung Electronics has climbed to 10th place globally in market capitalization, surpassing Meta Platforms, according to recent data. This surge, fueled by the ongoing rally in artificial intelligence (AI) semiconductor stocks, has boosted the overall market capitalization of the South Korean stock market to $7.215 trillion, positioning it as the world's sixth-largest market, ahead of India.

The KOSPI index, South Korea's main stock market index, closed above the 8,800 mark, showing a 0.15% increase from the previous trading day. However, the index exhibited extreme volatility throughout the session, fluctuating wildly between a high of 8,933.62 and a low of 8,503.12. While Samsung Electronics saw its stock price rise by 3.30% to close at 360,500 won, reaching a new all-time high and surpassing $210 trillion in market cap, its peer SK Hynix experienced a slight decline.

Other major stocks showed mixed performance. LG Electronics and Naver saw gains of 3.15% and 3.31% respectively, while LG and Doosan experienced significant drops of 15.56% and 12.94%. Individual investors were net buyers, purchasing 6.3 trillion won worth of stocks, while foreign investors were net sellers, offloading 6.6 trillion won. Foreign investors have maintained a selling trend for 18 consecutive trading days, totaling approximately 60 trillion won.

In contrast to the KOSPI's performance, the KOSDAQ index, which tracks smaller companies, continued its downward trend for the fifth consecutive day, closing down 2.29% at 1,026.03. The index had previously threatened to fall below the 1,000-point level. The South Korean won also weakened against the U.S. dollar, with the exchange rate closing at 1,516.4 won per dollar, an increase of 12.1 won from the previous day.