South Korea's benchmark KOSPI index extended its winning streak to a third consecutive session, closing 4.6% higher at 6,995.39 points on Monday. The market's upward momentum was fueled by a surge in semiconductor stocks, underpinned by robust expectations for investment demand tied to artificial intelligence (AI) applications. This sharp advance underscores a growing conviction that the global buildout of AI infrastructure will sustain high demand for memory chips and related components.

The Korean won also captured investors' attention, climbing to its strongest level in nearly two years. The currency's appreciation was driven by expectations that major exporters will continue to liquidate their US dollar holdings. According to a report from Yonhap Infomax, which cited anonymous foreign exchange market sources, the National Pension Service (NPS) has halted its currency-hedging operations and resumed purchasing US dollars as the local currency strengthens. The pension fund had originally initiated the sale of dollar forward contracts in early June, marking its first hedging activity under a newly established framework.

Market observers noted that with the dollar-won exchange rate recently slipping below the 1,350 level and settling into the 1,330 range, the NPS views this as an attractive entry point for dollar acquisitions. A foreign bank trader quoted by Infomax said that the current scale of the NPS's dollar purchases is not yet large enough to fundamentally shift the broader market trend. During intraday trading, the dollar-won pair dipped to a low of 1,334.70, though it was last seen trading near the 1,346 mark.

In a separate development reported by the Korea Economic Daily, citing an unnamed government official, South Korea has designated a natural gas power plant project in Texas, valued at approximately US$22.3 billion, as the first initiative to proceed under its larger US$350 billion investment pledge to the United States. The two governments finalized the project's total cost at US$22.3 billion, following initial requests of US$25 billion from the US side and a Korean proposal of US$19.8 billion. Located in Encinal, Texas, the facility will feature a total installed capacity of 6.3 gigawatts, specifically designed to meet the electricity needs of AI-focused data centers. The project will begin with the construction of a 1.4-gigawatt gas turbine unit, with an additional 4.9 gigawatts of combined-cycle power generation capacity to be added in a subsequent phase. The South Korean government plans to brief the National Assembly on the project on Monday, with the official announcement of this inaugural investment slated for later this month following the completion of parliamentary reporting and approval procedures.