Asian stocks advanced on Friday, with South Korean and Japanese markets skyrocketing as investors returned to AI stocks. The Kospi index soared 1,001.89 points, or 17.91 percent, to 6,595.45, posting record gains in both percentage and point terms after SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won disclosed he had bought 3,620 SK Hynix shares worth about 4.9 billion won on the open market. SK Hynix shares soared almost 30 percent while Samsung Electronics jumped 26.8 percent. The Nikkei climbed 4.03 percent to 64,362.02 as the Bank of Japan left its policy rate unchanged at 1.00 percent, with Kioxia Holdings surging almost 18 percent and SoftBank Group jumping 13.8 percent. Regional gains elsewhere were limited by Middle East tensions, disappointing China manufacturing data, and uncertainty over the U.S. interest-rate outlook.
SK Hynix Inc
Kioxia Holdings Corporation
Samsung Electronics Co Ltd
SoftBank Group Corp.