The Korea Exchange is preparing to lengthen trading hours on its main bourse, aligning with a surge in the Kospi Index that is swiftly approaching President Lee Jae-myung’s ambitious campaign benchmark of 5,000.
Under a plan submitted this week to the Financial Services Commission, the exchange anticipates extending market operations to 12 hours a day starting in June, up from the current 6.5 hours, by incorporating both pre-market and after-hours sessions. The proposal reflects a global move toward expanded trading, following similar steps by the smaller Nextrade platform, which launched additional trading windows in March.
Equities in South Korea have started the year on a strong note, with the Kospi advancing every session and posting gains of about 10%. If current momentum persists through month-end, this would mark the index’s best opening performance since 2001. As of midday Tuesday, January 13, the Kospi was within 6.5% of reaching the 5,000 milestone. The Kospi Index rose 1.5% on Tuesday.
The index’s robust ascent has been propelled by a persistent global shortage of memory chips, catalyzing price hikes and boosting valuations for industry leaders Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix—both of which are the top weighted stocks on the Kospi. Additionally, shares of Hyundai Motor Group have rallied amid investor optimism over the company’s moves into humanoid robots and autonomous taxi technology.
President Lee, in his campaign for the presidential election last June—when the Kospi was trading below 2,700—set a target of 5,000 for the index, pledging reforms to corporate governance and enhanced regulation against stock manipulation to achieve this goal.
Despite the market rally, the South Korean won has weakened more than 2% against the U.S. dollar so far in 2026, making it the region’s worst-performing currency. Analysts and policy officials attribute this depreciation in large part to persistent retail investor demand for U.S. equities, which has put pressure on the local currency.
