NEW YORK, Dec. 28, 2025, 9:02 a.m. ET — Market closed
South Korea’s Korea Exchange (KRX) heads into the final stretch of 2025 with momentum, scrutiny, and a long to-do list—exactly the cocktail you’d expect when a market becomes the year’s standout performer.
On Friday in Seoul (Dec. 26), the KOSPI closed at 4,129.68, up 0.51%, while the tech-heavy KOSDAQ finished at 919.67, up 0.49%, according to KBS World. [1] Those gains capped a year in which South Korea’s benchmark has surged—Reuters reported the country’s main index was up 72% for 2025, making it the top-performing major stock market globally this year. [2]
Now comes the part that matters for investors: what happens when KRX reopens for Monday’s session in Seoul (Sunday evening in New York), and how policy and plumbing changes—market surveillance rules, KOSDAQ delisting reforms, and even the possibility of longer trading hours—could shape liquidity and volatility into year-end and early 2026.
The last KRX session: semiconductors lead, the won firms up
Friday’s advance in Seoul had a familiar face: big-cap tech.
Korea JoongAng Daily (citing Yonhap) reported that chip-linked strength helped drive the rise, with Samsung Electronics jumping 5.31% to an all-time high of 117,000 won and SK hynix gaining 1.87% to 599,000 won. [3] The day’s flow picture was equally notable: foreigners and institutions were net buyers, while retail investors were net sellers. [4]
That foreign bid matters because it’s been intertwined with the other major macro lever for Korea: the currency.
KBS reported the won strengthened to 1,440.3 per U.S. dollar at the close. [5] Korea JoongAng Daily also pointed to South Korea’s broader push to stabilize FX markets, noting the won’s move came amid stepped-up efforts that have included the National Pension Service’s hedging activity. [6]
One concise read on Friday’s setup came from Lee Jae-won, an analyst at Shinhan Securities, who told Korea JoongAng Daily that the KOSPI rose as “the inflow of foreign capital increased,” adding that foreign buying was concentrated in semiconductor shares as concerns about an AI bubble eased. [7]
KRX market surveillance shifts: “investment warning” rules get rewritten
A key KRX-specific development heading into the next session is a change to how Korea’s market warning system flags sharp movers.
Maeil Business Newspaper (MK) reported that KRX revised enforcement rules tied to “investment warning” designations, including:
- Adjusting the “over 200% in a year” threshold so it’s measured relative to the performance of the relevant market index (an attempt to avoid sweeping in stocks during broad market surges). [8]
- Excluding top-100 market cap stocks across the KOSPI and KOSDAQ from certain “investment warning” designations—after complaints that large caps were getting caught up as the broader market rallied. [9]
- Setting the effective date as Dec. 29, which MK reported would mean names like SK hynix and Hanwha Aerospace would be automatically excluded from that category starting then. [10]
This is “market microstructure” news—easy to ignore until it suddenly isn’t. Warning labels can influence short-term trading behavior, headline risk, and liquidity in crowded trades. With Korea’s benchmark up sharply this year, KRX appears to be trying to recalibrate rules built for idiosyncratic blow-offs so they don’t become a blunt instrument during a broad-based bull run. [11]
KOSDAQ’s year-end report: more IPO value, faster exits, heavier enforcement
If KOSPI is Korea’s heavyweight stage, KOSDAQ is where the country’s risk appetite, venture pipeline, and “quality control” debates play out in real time—and KRX’s latest year-end numbers show both growth and a more aggressive cleanup.
In a Dec. 28 report, The Asia Business Daily said KRX’s KOSDAQ Market Division counted 84 new KOSDAQ listings (excluding SPACs) in 2025, alongside 38 delistings. [12] While the number of new listings dipped slightly versus last year, the value of what came public rose:
- Total market cap (based on IPO price) hit 15.3 trillion won, the highest since 2021. [13]
- Companies raised about 2.5 trillion won through KOSDAQ IPOs. [14]
- The number of newly listed firms valued above 500 billion won hit five, the most since 2011. [15]
The same report underscored how “hot” parts of the pipeline remained. It cited an average subscription competition ratio of 1,128 to 1, with 87% of IPO prices set at the top of the indicated band. [16] It also said 11 companies reached a 1 trillion won market cap in their listing year, and flagged stronger representation from strategic sectors including AI, biotech, semiconductors, and defense. [17]
But the other side of the KOSDAQ story is the exit door—and it’s swinging faster.
The Asia Business Daily reported that 23 companies were delisted for substantive reasons and that the average time from the emergence of delisting grounds to a final delisting decision fell to 384 days, roughly 21% shorter than the three-year average. [18]
Regulators raise the floor for KOSDAQ listings in 2026
The tougher delisting posture isn’t just KRX initiative; it’s policy.
South Korea’s Financial Services Commission (FSC) said that starting January 2026, the market-cap requirement to remain listed on KOSDAQ will rise to 15 billion won from 4 billion won previously. The FSC added that a simulated test suggested 14 KOSDAQ-listed companies in 2026 would be subject to delisting review under the updated market cap and revenue standards. [19]
The FSC also said KRX’s delisting review capacity will expand—moving from three review teams to four—to speed reviews and enable earlier exits for non-viable companies. [20]
There’s friction, though, and it’s not purely financial.
MK reported that while KRX has accelerated delisting decisions, court processes—particularly injunction requests—can stretch timelines and leave investors stuck in long trading suspensions, creating opportunity-cost and liquidity concerns. [21]
Trading hours could get longer: KRX weighs pre-market and after-market expansion
The other structural story investors are watching is time itself—specifically, whether KRX will extend stock trading hours in response to competition and evolving investor habits.
The Asia Business Daily reported KRX is moving toward developing a system that could extend trading to 12 hours, with potential pre-market and after-market sessions (possibilities described included 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. or 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.). The report said KRX planned a Dec. 29 board meeting tied to organizational restructuring that includes a task force for building those sessions, with a decision expected in the first quarter of next year. [22]
MK similarly reported KRX is preparing organizational changes for longer hours and expanded KOSDAQ delisting operations, in part after the launch of an alternative venue offering extended hours. [23]
For investors, longer hours aren’t just a convenience feature. They can shift volatility patterns, reshape how news gets priced (especially U.S.-linked tech headlines that break overnight in Korea), and redistribute liquidity between the open, auctions, and off-hours sessions.
Macro backdrop: rates, FX stability, and why global allocators are watching Korea
KRX is the venue—but macro is the weather system.
On monetary policy, Reuters reported the Bank of Korea said it would decide whether and when to cut rates further based on incoming data and would strengthen monitoring and stabilization measures amid volatility in FX markets. [24]
On financial stability, Reuters also cited Chang Yong-sung, a Bank of Korea board member, urging caution on risks tied to volatility, a weaker won, and housing prices. [25]
Meanwhile, currency support has been an explicit policy priority. Reuters reported South Korea’s National Pension Service initiated a new round of strategic FX hedging to help support the won, and said economists viewed the combined measures as a strong signal aimed at stabilizing sentiment—citing forecasts that the dollar-won rate could stabilize around 1,450 in the near term. [26]
Global allocators have also been re-rating markets outside the U.S. In a Reuters column, Helen Jewell, International CIO for Fundamental Equities at BlackRock, wrote that in 2025 “the equity story…was not the U.S.” and that South Korea led the pack (alongside Spain) on year-to-date performance, a framing that has helped keep Korea on global watchlists heading into 2026. [27]
If KRX is closed now, what should investors know before the next session?
Because U.S. markets are shut for the weekend as of this writing, the practical playbook is about preparing for Korea’s next open—not reacting to minute-by-minute moves.
Here are the main items investors are likely to have front-loaded before KRX’s next session:
1) A market that’s strong—but also policy-sensitive.
Reuters’ year-end framing (Korea as 2025’s top-performing major stock market) is supportive for sentiment, but also raises the odds that policy headlines—FX stabilization, governance, delisting enforcement—move prices. [28]
2) Surveillance and labeling rules are changing as soon as Monday.
KRX’s revised “investment warning” framework takes effect Dec. 29, per MK, and could alter how certain momentum names trade around volatility thresholds. [29]
3) KOSDAQ is getting stricter, and exits are speeding up.
Year-end KRX data shows delistings rising and timelines shrinking, while FSC rule changes lift minimum listing requirements in 2026—meaning “quality screens” may tighten further. [30]
4) Watch the won alongside semiconductors.
Friday’s rally came with a stronger won and foreign buying that leaned into chips—linking equity direction to FX stability and cross-border flows. [31]
5) Year-end mechanics matter: holiday schedule and dividends.
Seoul Economic Daily reported KRX plans to operate through Dec. 30, with Dec. 31 designated as a year-end market holiday, and that markets reopen Jan. 2 with a 10:00 a.m. start for the regular securities session (and 9:45 a.m. for derivatives). [32]
The same report noted the ex-dividend date for late-December year-end dividend record dates was set for Dec. 29, and that investors who purchased shares by Dec. 26 would be eligible for those dividends—an important timing detail around year-end positioning. [33]
Political headline to track: budget governance, fiscal expectations
One additional headline in the past 24 hours sits in the background for equity investors: Reuters reported South Korean President Lee Jae Myung named conservative lawmaker Lee Hye-hoon as budget minister, part of a broader push to reshape ministry power and budget authority—moves some observers warned could increase debt under the administration. [34]
That kind of fiscal-governance news typically doesn’t move KOSPI tick-by-tick. But at year-end, when positioning can be lighter and narratives travel faster, it can contribute to how global investors handicap Korea’s policy mix in 2026.
KRX is entering 2026 doing two things at once: riding the afterburners of a historic year for Korean equities, and tightening (or rewiring) the machinery that decides how capital enters, trades, and exits the market. If 2025 was about performance, the next phase may be about how the market structure adapts to success—without breaking liquidity, confidence, or price discovery in the process.
References
1. world.kbs.co.kr, 2. www.reuters.com, 3. koreajoongangdaily.joins.com, 4. koreajoongangdaily.joins.com, 5. world.kbs.co.kr, 6. koreajoongangdaily.joins.com, 7. koreajoongangdaily.joins.com, 8. www.mk.co.kr, 9. www.mk.co.kr, 10. www.mk.co.kr, 11. www.mk.co.kr, 12. cm.asiae.co.kr, 13. cm.asiae.co.kr, 14. cm.asiae.co.kr, 15. cm.asiae.co.kr, 16. cm.asiae.co.kr, 17. cm.asiae.co.kr, 18. cm.asiae.co.kr, 19. www.fsc.go.kr, 20. www.fsc.go.kr, 21. www.mk.co.kr, 22. cm.asiae.co.kr, 23. www.mk.co.kr, 24. www.reuters.com, 25. www.reuters.com, 26. www.reuters.com, 27. www.reuters.com, 28. www.reuters.com, 29. www.mk.co.kr, 30. cm.asiae.co.kr, 31. koreajoongangdaily.joins.com, 32. en.sedaily.com, 33. en.sedaily.com, 34. www.reuters.com
