▲ A dealing room at Hana Bank in Seoul on June 9, 2026 (Yonhap)

stocks-summary

Seoul shares surge over 8 pct on AI confidence, Iran-Israel ceasefire

SEOUL, June 9 (Yonhap) -- South Korean stocks soared by more than 8 percent Tuesday, sharply rebounding from the over 8 percent plunge in the previous sess, to reclaim the 8,000-point threshold, as risk-on sentiment prevailed amid a ceasefire between Israel and Iran and confidence over the artificial intelligence (AI) boom.

The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) added 612.52 points, or 8.18 percent, to close at 8,096.93, after rising as high as 8,119.09.

With the KOSPI's bullish start, the Korea Exchange had activated a buy-side sidecar for the KOSPI shortly after opening, halting program trading for five minutes.

Program trading on the KOSDAQ was also suspended for five minutes from 9:28 a.m. after the bourse operator issued a buy-side sidecar for the secondary index.

The rebound came after the KOSPI slid more than 8 percent Monday on woes over AI profitability and a possible rate hike by the U.S. Federal Reserve after the release of hotter-than-expected U.S. jobs data for May. News that Iran and Israel were trading strikes also dampened the market sentiment.

But investors' risk appetite went up Tuesday on news that Israel and Iran halted attacks on each other after a warning from U.S. President Donald Trump and a tech rebound on Wall Street.

Overnight, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 0.16 percent lower, while the S&P 500 rose 0.3 percent and the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite added 0.86 percent.

Micron surged 9.87 percent, SanDisk increased 5.3 percent, AI chip giant Nvidia gained 1.73 percent, and AMD went up 5.14 percent on sentiment that business fundamentals of AI-related sectors remain strong.

"As the negative factors that had triggered the sharp market decline began to ease, investors engaged in bargain hunting, particularly in large-cap semiconductor stocks, which had recently suffered steep losses," said Lee Kyoung-min, an analyst at Daishin Securities.

(END)

[ⓒ K-VIBE. 무단전재-재배포 금지]