"KOSPI Could Reach as High as 7,500," Forecasts JP Morgan

At the dealing room of Hana Bank's headquarters in Jung-gu, Seoul, an employee is monitoring the stock market and exchange rates on the 3rd, when the KOSPI surged more than 4% in a single day after plunging and a buy-sidecar (temporary suspension of program buy orders) was triggered. That day, the KOSPI opened at 5,114.81, up 165.14 points (3.34%) from the previous session. 2026.2.3 Reporter Cho Yongjun

Global investment bank JP Morgan has forecast that the KOSPI, which recently broke through the 5,000 level, could rise as high as 7,500.

On February 2 (local time), JP Morgan released its Korea equity strategy report titled "Firing on all cylinders," in which it raised its KOSPI target to 6,000 under the base-case scenario and 7,500 under the bull-case scenario.

According to JP Morgan, since September last year, 60% of the KOSPI’s gains have been driven by Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, and the upward momentum is now spreading to other sectors such as industrials.

In particular, in semiconductors, JP Morgan assessed that surging memory prices are enabling Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix to lead the market rally. It added that long-term growth industries such as defense, shipbuilding, and power equipment are also maintaining solid growth, thereby supporting the stock market’s rise.

According to JP Morgan, over the past six months, this year’s earnings-per-share (EPS) consensus for MSCI Korea (Morgan Stanley Capital International Korea) has been revised up by 60%. By sector, technology has been raised by 130% and industrials by 25%, driving earnings momentum.

JP Morgan projected that this year’s EPS for Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix will be about 40% higher than the current consensus. It forecast that the share prices of the two companies have an additional upside potential of 45-50% from current levels. While acknowledging the possibility of a short-term share price correction due to technical pressures, it analyzed that the pace of corporate earnings improvement is outpacing index returns, meaning valuation pressure is limited.

It also assessed that expectations for corporate governance reform are high as amendments to the Commercial Act (including the expansion of directors’ duty of loyalty and the mandatory cancellation of treasury shares) are moving beyond the legislative stage into the implementation stage. In particular, it expected that the upcoming March shareholders’ meeting season and tax law revisions (such as separate taxation of dividend income) will act as catalysts for further share price gains.