SEOUL — South Korea's benchmark KOSPI climbed 28.36 points, or 0.42%, to 6,725.32 as of 2:48 p.m. local time Tuesday, stabilizing after Monday's sharp 3.12% selloff that had been driven primarily by investor disappointment over Samsung Electronics' newly announced shareholder return plan.

Tuesday's modest recovery comes as the index continues to navigate one of the most volatile stretches in its trading history, oscillating between dramatic single-session swings tied largely to shifting sentiment around the country's two dominant semiconductor giants, Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix. Monday's steep decline had wiped out much of the strength built up in prior sessions, with the KOSPI having closed at 6,913 points the previous Friday after a 0.88% gain driven by continued shareholder-return expectations across the chip sector.

According to Trading Economics, Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix had climbed 3.87% and 2.19%, respectively, during Friday's session, extending gains fueled by continued anticipation of shareholder returns following SK Hynix's earlier 40 trillion won buyback announcement. Strong semiconductor exports provided further support heading into the weekend, with chip shipments nearly tripling to $26 billion during the first 20 days of August, reinforcing expectations that continued AI-driven demand would keep supporting Korea's dominant technology sector. Gains that day extended beyond the chipmakers themselves, with KB Financial Group up 2.63%, Shinhan Financial Group up 3.17%, and SK Inc. up 2.99%.

That optimism proved short-lived. Samsung's disclosure of a record shareholder-return plan, targeting up to........

© International Business Times