South Korea’s Kospi index jumps more than 15% on a surge of chipmaking stocks

South Korea’s Kospi index has jumped more than 15% as artificial intelligence-related stocks bounced back after losses this week

A currency trader talks on the phone at the foreign exchange dealing room of the Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, July 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

Updated 33 minutes ago

BANGKOK (AP) — South Korea’s Kospi index jumped more than 15% on Friday, tracking Wall Street gains, as artificial intelligence-related stocks bounced back after losses this week.

U.S. futures edged higher and oil prices rose.

In early Asian trading, the Kospi rose 15.3% to 6,447.10. Shares of South Korean technology giant Samsung Electronics surged 21.5%, while memory chipmaker SK Hynix soared 25.6%.

The Kospi index had plummeted more than 16% on Tuesday and Wednesday on a sell-off of technology stocks in part over worries about an AI bubble and rising intensive competition from chipmaking rivals in China.

Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 also climbed 5% in early Friday trading. Multinational investment holding company and OpenAI-investor SoftBank Group jumped 14.7%, while chip equipment maker Tokyo Electron rose 9.3%.

Oil prices traded higher on tensions between the U.S. and Iran, and as the Strait of Hormuz, a key waterway for oil transport, remained largely closed. Brent crude, the international standard, was up 0.3% to $87.14 per barrel. It was around $72 a barrel before the start of the Iran war in late February.

On Thursday, Wall Street's benchmark S&P 500 was up 1.7% to 7,437.63. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 1.2% to 52,208.06. The technology-heavy Nasdaq composite rose 2.8% to 25,122.18.