Foreign and Institutional Buying Drives KOSPI Past 5,400

by Lee Minwoo

Published 01 Apr.2026 13:46(KST)

Updated 01 Apr.2026 14:02(KST)

KOSDAQ Also Surpasses 1,100

The two main domestic stock indices rebounded sharply, with the KOSPI surpassing 5,400 and the KOSDAQ breaking through the 1,100 mark.

As of 1:30 p.m. on April 1, the KOSPI was up 7.68% from the previous day, reaching 5,440.35. The index opened at 5,330.04 and continued to climb throughout the session.

Buying activity by institutions and foreign investors has been driving the indices higher. Foreign investors, who net sold approximately 35 trillion won last month, turned to net buyers for the first time since March 18, purchasing 49.6 billion won worth of shares. Institutional investors have already made net purchases totaling 2.4245 trillion won. In contrast, individual investors, who net bought 2.9362 trillion won the previous day, have sold a net 2.8146 trillion won so far today.

Almost all sectors remain in an uptrend. The construction (10.58%) and electrical·electronics (10.55%) sectors soared by more than 10%. The manufacturing (0.02%), securities (7.98%), machinery·equipment (7.94%), and metals (7.86%) sectors also posted steep gains. Only the entertainment·culture sector (-0.85%) and the paper·wood sector (-0.16%) recorded declines.

Among large-cap stocks, Samsung Electronics (12.1%), SK hynix (10.0%), and Hyundai Motor (9.4%) saw particularly significant gains. Doosan Enerbility (8.0%), SK Square (7.4%), Hanwha Aerospace (7.1%), and Kia (7.0%) also followed with strong performances.

The KOSDAQ also rose 5.92% from the previous day to 1,114.74. It opened at 1,090.36, up 3.61% from the previous session, and continued to trend upward.

Here too, both foreign and institutional investors were net buyers, purchasing 351 billion won and 268.8 billion won worth of shares, respectively. Individual investors, on the other hand, net sold 631.7 billion won.

All sectors on the KOSDAQ were in positive territory. The electrical·electronics (8.50%), machinery·equipment (8.31%), financial (6.38%), manufacturing (6.21%), general services (5.57%), and chemical (5.34%) sectors posted the largest gains.

In the top 10 KOSDAQ stocks by market capitalization, all but Samchundang Pharm (-7.7%) were up. ABL Bio (9.6%), LIG Nex1 (9.5%), LIG ChemBio (7.5%), and Ecopro (6.9%) showed especially strong performances.

The KOSPI index surged over 5% on expectations, triggering a buy-side circuit breaker early in the session. On April 1st, the domestic stock market status was displayed on the electronic board in the dealing room at the Seoul Jung-gu Hana Bank headquarters. On the same day, the won-dollar exchange rate opened at 1,508.5 won, down 21.6 won from the previous trading day. Photo by Jinhyung Kang, April 1, 2026