KOSPI closes at 6,977.94 on August 14, 2026 — up 11.49% in five sessions
The KOSPI closed at 6,977.94 on August 14, 2026, up 164.60 points or 2.42%, a fifth consecutive advance that has added 11.49% since the August 7 close of 6,258.77 — it traded above 7,000 intraday but did not close there
The three lines
- Close 6,977.94, up 164.60 points (+2.42%). Intraday high 7,010.86 — the 7,000 line did not hold into the close
- Five straight gains have added 719.17 points, or 11.49%, from the August 7 close of 6,258.77
- Foreign investors bought a net 3.04tn won; retail sold 1.98tn and institutions sold 1.03tn. KOSDAQ closed at 864.65, up 0.38%
Key questions
- What was the KOSPI closing price on August 14, 2026?
- 6,977.94. That is 164.60 points, or 2.42%, above the August 13 close of 6,813.34. The index traded as high as 7,010.86 during the session but finished 32.92 points below that mark. It was a fifth consecutive advance, and measured from the August 7 close of 6,258.77 the run has added 719.17 points, or 11.49%.
- Did the KOSPI break 7,000 or not?
- Both statements are defensible, depending on which number you mean. It printed 7,010.86 intraday, so it did trade above 7,000. It closed at 6,977.94, so it did not close above 7,000 — and index milestones in Korea are conventionally tracked on a closing basis. That is why local headlines used phrases like 'just short of 7,000' rather than declaring the level reclaimed. Reports put the last intraday visit to 7,000 at July 24 (7,000.78); this article could not verify that against exchange data.
- Who was actually buying?
- Foreign investors, and essentially only foreign investors. They bought a net 3.04tn won on the main board, while retail investors sold 1.98tn won and institutions sold 1.03tn won. That is a change from the previous session, when foreigners and institutions bought together. On August 14 the index rose 2.42% with a single buyer group on the bid — and reports put this as the first day of foreign net buying above 3tn won in ten sessions, since July 31.
Over five sessions this page has written the KOSPI number four times: 6,258.77, 6,579.04, 6,813.34, and now this.
6,977.94. Up 2.42%. A fifth straight gain.
And during the session it printed 7,010.86. The close came in 32.92 points below that.
1. The numbers
| KOSPI | KOSDAQ | |
|---|---|---|
| Close | 6,977.94 | 864.65 |
| Change | +164.60 (+2.42%) | +3.28 (+0.38%) |
| Intraday high | 7,010.86 | — |
| Prior close | 6,813.34 | 861.37 |
The five-session run, from the start:
| Session | KOSPI close | Change |
|---|---|---|
| August 7 | 6,258.77 | (base) |
| August 10–11 | — | two sessions higher |
| August 12 | 6,579.04 | — |
| August 13 | 6,813.34 | +234.30 (+3.56%) |
| August 14 | 6,977.94 | +164.60 (+2.42%) |
| Cumulative | +719.17 | +11.49% |
The August 7 close of 6,258.77 sat near the bottom of the seven-week decline this page covered in "S&P 7,757.64 · KOSPI 6,258.77." Five sessions later the index is 11.49% higher.
The won ended at 1,418.30 per dollar, 1.10 won stronger. That is the opposite direction from the previous session, when the won weakened 3.7 won even as the index rose 3.56%. A stronger won on a day of 3tn won of foreign buying is the internally consistent version of that picture.
2. A different set of leaders
| Stock | August 13 | August 14 |
|---|---|---|
| Hyundai Motor | — | +8.24% |
| Samsung Electronics (pref.) | — | +4.15% |
| SK Hynix | +5.92% | +3.26% |
| Samsung Electronics | +4.89% | +2.43% |
| KOSPI | +3.56% | +2.42% |
| KOSDAQ | +0.29% | +0.38% |
A day earlier this page wrote that "two stocks made the rally." On August 14 that sentence no longer holds cleanly. The two memory names rose roughly in line with the index, and Hyundai Motor took the top of the board with 8.24%.
That is not the same as a broad market. The KOSDAQ rose 0.38%. Better than the previous day's 0.29%, but still more than six times narrower than the KOSPI. The advance widened — inside the large-cap tier of the main board, and not much beyond it.
For readers outside Korea: the KOSDAQ is the country's separate small- and mid-cap board, roughly analogous to a growth-tier exchange. It has no memory-chip constituents of comparable weight, which is why it decouples from the KOSPI whenever a rally is chip-led.
3. Flows — a single buyer
| Investor group | Net (main board) |
|---|---|
| Foreign | +3.04tn won |
| Retail | -1.98tn won |
| Institutions | -1.03tn won |
The previous session's figures varied wildly across outlets — from 2.11tn to 3.71tn won — because different tallies cover different markets. On August 14 there is no such spread; outlets converged on roughly 3.04tn won.
What changed is the composition. On August 13, foreigners and institutions bought while retail sold. On August 14, institutions joined the sell side. The index rose 2.42% with exactly one buyer group at work.
Reports put this as the first session of foreign net buying above 3tn won in ten trading days, since July 31. Their targets remain large-cap chips and, newly, autos.
4. What drove it
Three items were cited.
① US July PPI came in soft. Released overnight on August 13 Korea time, US producer prices were flat month over month. Local coverage converged on a single reading: expectations firmed for the Federal Reserve to hold at its next meeting. The same release also showed a core measure up 0.4% — headline and core split in opposite directions, a structure covered in "US July PPI flat" and "What the Producer Price Index is."
② Semiconductor exports. Preliminary customs data showing chip exports up 155.4% year on year for August 1–10 was cited all week. The trap inside that number — one product category accounting for 46.8% of all exports — was covered in "Chip exports up 155%."
③ Continued AI infrastructure spending, which pushed back concerns that memory demand had peaked.
Only the first of these was new information on August 14. The other two had sat in the same place all week.
5. The next Korean session is August 18
August 15 is Liberation Day, a national holiday. Because it falls on a Saturday in 2026, Monday August 17 becomes a substitute holiday and Korean markets are closed. The next domestic trading day after August 14 is Tuesday, August 18.
New York trades normally on August 17. And on August 14 itself, US equities closed lower — the S&P 500 fell 0.17% to 7,785.76 after preliminary Michigan consumer sentiment dropped to 51. None of that is in the KOSPI's 2.42%. It is covered in "S&P 500 closes at 7,785.76 on August 14, 2026."
6. What is still open
Five sessions, 11.49%, and then three days off. What this article could not settle:
How firm the 7,010.86 print is. Several outlets carried the same figure, but it was not checked against exchange source data. The same applies to "first time above 7,000 since July 24."
Whether this is a record close. Not confirmed. This article reports only the session change and the five-day run.
That institutions sold into a 2.42% gain leaves this rally resting on one leg. How foreign flows reach the index is set out separately in "What foreign net buying means."
Sources
- Newspim — Market close: KOSPI up a fifth day on 3tn won of foreign buying, just short of 7,000
- Financial News — Foreign buying of 3tn won leaves KOSPI on the doorstep of 7,000
- Newdaily — KOSPI at 6,977 on 3tn won of foreign buying, fifth straight gain
- Money Today — More than 3tn won of foreign net buying; KOSPI touches 7,000 and closes in the 6,970s
- DDaily — Foreigners buy more than 3tn won; KOSPI breaks 7,000 intraday, closes at 6,977
- Hankyung — KOSPI rises all week, closing near 7,000; KOSDAQ also up