Japanese and South Korean stock markets surge, South Korea's KOSPI index hits record high

Odaily News Japanese and South Korean stock markets surged today. The Nikkei 225 index closed on Monday, January 5th, up 1493.32 points, a gain of 2.97%, at 51832.80 points, led by chip and heavy industry stocks. The South Korean KOSPI index closed on Monday, January 5th, up 147.89 points, a gain of 3.43%, at 4457.52 points, setting a record closing high, led by chip and defense stocks; Samsung Electronics rose 7.47%, marking its largest single-day gain since March 24, 2020. (Jin10)