▲ A dealing room at Hana Bank in Seoul on May 14, 2026 (Yonhap)

stocks-open

KOSPI opens lower, just shy of historic landmark of 8,000 points

SEOUL, May 15 (Yonhap) -- South Korean stocks opened a tad lower Friday, hovering just below the historic 8,000-point landmark, despite overnight gains on Wall Street boosted by a rally of artificial intelligence (AI)-relates shares and a positive evaluation of the U.S.-China summit.

The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) shed 29.66 points, or 0.37 percent, to 7,951.75 at the opening bell, an inch away from the unprecedented 8,000-point level.

Overnight, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 0.75 percent higher, the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite gained 0.88 percent, and the S&P 500 went up 0.77 percent.

"Major U.S. indexes gained ground with the summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping broadly meeting market expectations," said Seo Sang-young, an analyst at Mirae Asset Securities.

In their high-stakes meeting in Beijing on Thursday, the leaders of the world's two largest economies agreed that Iran can never have a nuclear weapon and the crucial Strait of Hormuz must remain open, according to a White House official.

On expectations for closer cooperation between Washington and Beijing, major AI-related shares gained ground on Wall Street, with Nvidia jumping 4.39 percent, Broadcom rising 5.52 percent and TSMC adding 4.48 percent.

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