South Korea’s secondary Kosdaq revisited 1,000 level for the first time since the IT bubble burst in 2000 on foreign buying in bio and battery stocks.

Kosdaq finished Monday 1.1 percent higher at 1,000.65 points, its first touchdown above the 1,000 threshold since 1,020.7 closing on September 14, 2000. Market cap also reached a new record of 11.1 trillion won ($365.5 billion) on Monday.

Kosdaq was 0.8 percent higher at 1,008.43 by midday Tuesday.

The latest traction in the junior index mainly came from offshore investors.

On Monday, foreigners net bought 39.5 billion won in Kosdaq shares and institutional investors 1.8 billion won. Retail investors net sold 19.9 billion won.

Bio and battery stocks led the gains.

Battery materials supplier EcoPro BM stock jumped 8.54 percent on Monday and SK Materials added 3.78 percent upon removal of uncertainties by battery majors after LG Energy Solution and SK Innovation ended their disputes with an out-of-court settlement over the weekend.

Shares of Seegene, Korea’s Covid-19 test kit maker rose 4.31 percent after reports that it is prepping to move to the bigger Kospi market.

Kosdaq has been galloping after decades of stagnation. It has more than doubled from last low of 428.35 marked on March 19 last year. It outperformed Nasdaq gains of 88 percent from last year’s low and Japan Nikkei 225’s 66 percent and China’s Shanghai Composite’s 31 percent.

Kospi during the same period surged 115 percent.

Park Byeong-yong, head of Kosdaq sales system at Korea Exchange, said that the Kosdaq index was able to leapfrog on the back of innovative companies with growth potential and promising future technologies.

Retail investors who were active in Kospi market last year were behind Kosdaq push in the first quarter.

Individuals purchased 5.3 trillion won worth of Kosdaq shares as of Monday, which is in contrast to how institutional investors net sold nearly 3 trillion won and foreigners 785.9 billion won.

Diversity in up-and-coming stocks added to the market appeal.

When the secondary market was launched in 1996, the index was mainly led by IT companies. In recent years, it was joined by bio, battery and fifth-generation mobile names players.

By Kim Gyu-sik, Kim In-oh, and Lee Eun-joo

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