NH Investment & Securities expects that South Korea’s benchmark KOSPI index will rise more than 30% next year. Photo courtesy of NH Investment & Securities
SEOUL, Nov. 18 (UPI) — South Korea’s leading brokerage house, NH Investment & Securities, said Tuesday it expected the country’s stock market would extend its bullish run next year by rising more than 30%.
The Seoul-based company projected that the benchmark KOSPI would reach 5,500 points in 2026, almost 40% higher than Tuesday’s closing price of 3,953.62 on the Seoul bourse.
NH Investment noted that lower interest rates and structural transformation across the artificial intelligence-powered industries would keep underpinning the market’s upward trajectory.
“As the KOSPI continued to hit record highs this year, investor interest in a wide range of asset classes and the broader financial market reached unprecedented levels,” NH Investment research head Cho Soo-hong said in a statement.
With the coming restructuring of the financial markets in 2026, Cho stressed the importance of looking ahead to the growth of the AI-related value chain and seeking investment opportunities along the way.
The KOSPI has soared nearly 70% this year amid strong performances from Korea’s flagship companies, regulatory reforms, and robust exports, which encouraged foreign investors to increase their holdings in Korean equities.
Against this backdrop, another major brokerage KB Investment & Securities projected that the KOSPI may climb as high as 7,500 points next year, driven by strong corporate earnings.
However, not all experts share such optimism. Kiwoom Securities, for example, warned that the index could fall to as low as 3,500 points, citing a range of potential risks, including overvaluation of AI-related sectors.
Meanwhile, the KOSPI slipped 3.32% Tuesday as overseas investors went on a selling spree.
