Korea’s KOSPI Surges 11% in Historic Rebound, Outpacing Crypto

One day after its worst single-session loss, South Korea’s KOSPI surged more than 11% on Thursday, staging one of the most dramatic reversals the index has ever seen. The KOSPI climbed to 5,682 from Wednesday’s close of 5,093 and touched an intraday high of 5,715; the KOSDAQ recovered above the 1,000 level, gaining over 11%.

Oil prices stabilised, with Brent crude at $81.40 and WTI at $74.66, and reports of back-channel contacts between Washington and Tehran lifted sentiment across Asian markets. Wall Street had closed higher on Wednesday, with the Nasdaq up 1.29% led by Tesla, Amazon and Nvidia.

The won strengthened sharply, pulling back from an overnight high of 1,505 to trade near 1,461, while Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix rebounded 13–15% after earlier declines of 21% and 22.75% from late-February peaks. The scale of the crash and recovery reflected structural exposure: Korea imports over 70% of its energy from the Middle East and operates an export-dependent economy highly sensitive to commodity shocks.

South Korea

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