KOSPI Finishes Above 1,800

Korea’s benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index reached 1,800 for the first time in three months, thanks to strong gains in the U.S. stock market.

The KOSPI rose 28.58 points (1.61 percent) from last Friday to close at 1,800.48, yesterday. The tech-heavy KOSDAQ index also jumped 6.31 points (0.98 percent) to reach 650.06 for the day.

The closing price of KOSPI exceeded 1,800 for the first time since Jan. 10 when the index reached 1.824.78. Foreign investors’ net buying (the amount of buying minus that of selling) reached 344.9 billion won on the day.

As Citigroup and Google showed better-than-expected performances in the first quarter, the New York Stock Exchange soared last Friday.

Strong performances of the U.S. stock market has helped Asian stock markets’ rally. Japan’s Nikkei Average Index jumped 1.63 percent. China’s Shanghai Composite Index first soared around 7 percent during the day but settled down at around 0.72 percent yesterday.

ssoo@donga.com