Seoul shares trade well above 4,800 points late Fri. morning on tech rally

▲ This photo shows the dealing room of Hana Bank in Seoul on Jan. 16, 2026. (Yonhap)

stocks-morning

Seoul shares trade well above 4,800 points late Fri. morning on tech rally

SEOUL, Jan. 16 (Yonhap) -- South Korean stocks continued to trade higher late Friday morning, extending their rally to an 11th consecutive session on continued strength in technology shares.

The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) added 49.1 points, or 1.02 percent, to 4,846.65 as of 11:20 a.m.

The index opened 0.48 percent higher, continuing its record-breaking run, and touched an all-time intraday high of 4,852 points at 10:58 a.m.

Semiconductor shares traded bullish, as Samsung Electronics jumped 3.41 percent and SK hynix advanced 0.67 percent.

Top carmaker Hyundai Motor increased 0.36 percent, while its sister Kia rose 2.75 percent.

Korean Air, the largest air carrier, soared 6.74 percent, and APR, a major cosmetics manufacturing firm, surged 2.74 percent.

Financial shares were also among the winners, with KB Financial Group rising 0.54 percent and Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance mounting 2.84 percent.

However, bio giant Samsung Biologics fell 2.29 percent, and leading shipyard HD Hyundai Heavy Industries dropped 1.27 percent.

The local currency was trading at 1,474.8 won against the greenback at 11:20 a.m., down 5.1 won from the previous session.

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