[DigitalToday reporter Oh Sang-yup (오상엽)] South Korea's KOSPI maintained early strength on May 7 and briefly topped the 7,500 mark intraday. Investor sentiment improved on expectations of a war-ending agreement between the United States and Iran, while Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix both rewrote record highs to lead the index higher.

As of 9:08 a.m., the KOSPI was up 56.27 points, or 0.76 percent, from the previous session at 7,440.83. The index opened up 114.51 points, or 1.55 percent, at 7,499.07. It again set a new intraday all-time high, beating the prior day's record of 7,426.60.

By investor type, individuals were net buyers of 1.1651 trillion won, while foreigners and institutions were net sellers of 1.1532 trillion won and 20.4 billion won, respectively.

Top stocks by market capitalisation were mixed. Samsung Electronics rose 2.07 percent to 271,500 won and continued its intraday record-high run. SK Hynix also climbed 2.62 percent to 1,643,000 won, rewriting its record high.

Elsewhere, SK Square was up 2.94 percent, Hyundai Motor rose 6.91 percent, Doosan Enerbility added 6.85 percent, HD Hyundai Heavy Industries gained 2.16 percent, and Samsung Electro-Mechanics rose 1.54 percent.

LG Energy Solution fell 1.56 percent and Hanwha Aerospace slid 3.49 percent.

The KOSDAQ was down 4.07 points, or 0.34 percent, at 1,206.10 at the same time.

In Seoul's foreign exchange market, the won was at 1,448.30 per dollar, up 0.70 won.