BANGKOK – South Korea’s Kospi staged a dramatic rebound Friday, surging more than 16% as Asian markets took their cue from a strong Wall Street session and investors piled back into artificial intelligence-linked shares after a bruising sell-off earlier in the week.
U.S. stock futures moved modestly higher, while crude oil prices slipped in early trading.
In early trading across Asia, the Kospi climbed 16.8% to 6,531.71, clawing back ground lost during a volatile stretch for technology shares. Samsung Electronics, South Korea’s flagship tech company, rallied 22.5%, while memory chip heavyweight SK Hynix jumped 27.7%.
The sharp rebound followed a turbulent week for the Kospi, driven in part by concerns that enthusiasm around artificial intelligence stocks had grown overheated and by fears of intensifying competition from Chinese chipmakers. The index had plunged more than 16% across Tuesday and Wednesday amid a broad technology sell-off, then slipped another 1.2% on Thursday to fall below 5,600.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 also advanced sharply, rising 5.2% in early Friday trading to 65,072.42. SoftBank Group, the multinational investment firm and OpenAI backer, gained 15.1%, while semiconductor equipment maker Tokyo Electron climbed 10.1%.
Energy markets moved in the opposite direction. Brent crude, the global benchmark for oil prices, fell 1.1% to $85.92 a barrel early Friday.
Wall Street had set a positive tone Thursday, with the benchmark S&P 500 gaining 1.7% to 7,437.63. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.2% to 52,208.06, while the tech-focused Nasdaq composite advanced 2.8% to 25,122.18.
