The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index(KOSPI) on Friday showed signs of approaching the three-thousand-400 mark after setting an all-time closing high for the third consecutive day. 

The KOSPI rose 51-point-34 points, or one-point-54 percent, Friday to close at a record high of three-thousand-395-point-54.

Stock prices were buoyed by gain in semiconductor shares and rising optimism over a possible U.S. Federal Reserve rate cut next week.

The main bourse, which opened the day at three-thousand-374-point-65, up 30-point-45 points from Thursday's closing, continued to expand gains. 

Analysts attributed Friday’s rally to foreign investors' net purchase of South Korean stocks, which stood at some one-point-four trillion won, and purchases by institutions amounting to nearly 612 billion won.

The tech-heavy KOSDAQ also gained 12-point-32 points, or one-point-48 percent, to close at 847-point-08.

Meanwhile, the Korean won strengthened three-point-six won against the U.S. dollar to sit at one-thousand-388-point-two at 3:30 p.m.