An electronic bulletin board on the afternoon of Feb. 4 shows the KOSPI breaking the historic 5,300 level at the dealing room of Woori Bank headquarters in Seoul's Jung-gu District. (Yonhap News)

By Hong Angie

The main stock market KOSPI has set another record high thanks to brisk growth.

The Korea Exchange on Feb. 4 said the index closed at 5,371.1, up 1.57% from the previous day. KOSPI opened morning trading at 5,260.71, down 0.52%, but rebounded enough to break 5,300 for the first time in history.

Institutions led the increase with net buying of KRW 1.81 trillion. Net selling was the trend for individuals (KRW 970.4 billion) and foreign investors (KRW 1.06 trillion).

Samsung Electronics also made history as the first domestic company to break KRW 1,000 trillion in market cap, rising 0.96%. Other risers were Doosan Enerbility (5.81%), SK Square (4.21%), LG Energy Solution (2.94%), Hyundai Motors (2.54%) and Kia Motors (1.82%).

Six stocks hit their daily limits while 751 rose, 156 declined and 19 remained flat.

The secondary stock market KOSDAQ closed at 1,149.43, up 0.45%. Net selling was seen by both institutions (KRW 144.4 billion) and foreign players (KRW 53.9 billion), while individuals net purchased KRW 234.5 billion.

On the foreign exchange market, the KRW-USD rate at 3:30 p.m. was traded at KRW 1,450.2, up 4.8 points.

shong9412@korea.kr