South Korea's KOSPI surged as much as 17.9 percent before pulling back slightly on Friday afternoon, chipmakers gained as much as 30 percent, and the won remains volatile after forex intervention.
KOSPI rose 17.9 percent, or 1,001.89 points, to 6,595 points. Chipmakers SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics, which make up more than half the benchmark, rose as much as 29.7 percent and 26.3 percent in their respective largest single-day rise to date.
KOSPI declined 1.42 percent for the week, and its July losses were 22 percent in total.
Among currencies, the South Korean won weakened as much as 1.2 percent to 1,440.58 per dollar, after appreciating to its strongest level since mid-October 2025 on Thursday.
Reuters reported that local foreign exchange authorities had conducted a rare dollar-selling intervention the previous day, underscoring the severity of capital flight during the market downturn.
"Further KRW appreciation will likely require renewed foreign equity inflows rather than additional hedge unwinds." said Wee Khoon Chong, senior markets strategist at BNY.
Reuters and staff reporter
