South Korea's benchmark KOSPI index staged a dramatic comeback on Friday, jumping more than 16% to recoup almost all the losses suffered earlier this week. The rally was powered by sharp gains in heavyweight chipmakers Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, tracking a strong recovery in U.S. technology stocks. Trading was briefly halted as has been the case this year amid sharp swings.
The KOSPI was up 17% at 6,549 points after tumbling nearly 17% over the previous three sessions, marking one of its steepest weekly declines, as fears of mounting competition from Chinese memory chipmakers triggered heavy selling across semiconductor stocks.