Kospi surges 5.76%, reclaims 8,000 amid record intraday swing of 758 points

The Kospi rebounded more than 5 percent in a single session Friday, driven by heavy institutional buying, to reclaim the 8,000 level while recording the second-largest intraday swing in its history at 758.18 points.

According to Korea Exchange, the Kospi closed at 8,088.34, up 440.25 points, or 5.76 percent, from the previous session.

The index opened at 7,739.75, gaining 91.66 points, or 1.20 percent, from the prior close.

It briefly turned lower in early trading, sliding to 7,378.10, before institutional buying concentrated in large-cap semiconductor stocks pushed it back into positive territory. The index crossed back above 8,000 around 1:39 p.m. and soared as high as 8,136.28 during the session.

The gap between the intraday high and low came to 758.18 points — the second-largest intraday swing on record, behind the 971.61-point range logged on June 23.

The sharp rally triggered a sidecar — a temporary suspension of program-buy orders — at around 1:47 p.m. It was the first Kospi sidecar in six sessions and the 31st this year.

Institutions dominated the session, posting net purchases of 4.45 trillion won ($2.86 billion) on the main board. Retail and foreign investors were net sellers, offloading 2.29 trillion won and 2.19 trillion won, respectively.

Foreign investors extended their net selling streak to 11 consecutive sessions since June 19, though they were net buyers of 18.1 billion won in the KOSPI 200 futures market.

Among large-cap stocks, Samsung Electronics rose 8.22 percent to reclaim the 300,000-won level, while SK hynix surged 10.88 percent to top 2.4 million won.

SK Square (up 4.20 percent), Samsung Electro-Mechanics (3.27 percent), Hyundai Motor (2.07 percent), LG Energy Solution (2.40 percent) and Hanwha Aerospace (5.29 percent) also closed higher.

The Kosdaq ended at 868.41, up 1.69 points, or 0.19 percent, from the previous session.

The index opened at 875.18, fell as low as 823.98 during trading, then pared losses to finish in positive territory in the final stretch.

On the Kosdaq, retail investors were net buyers of 112.1 billion won, while foreign investors and institutions were net sellers of 18.9 billion won and 103.9 billion won, respectively.

Among Kosdaq large-cap stocks, Ecopro (up 0.46 percent), Rainbow Robotics (1.55 percent), Kolon TissueGene (3.67 percent), Wonik IPS (1.14 percent) and Leeno Industrial (4.66 percent) all closed higher.