SEOUL — South Korea's benchmark Kospi index surged more than 7% on Wednesday, reclaiming the 7,000-point threshold and triggering an automatic buy-side trading curb, as chipmakers SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics led a sharp rebound following softer-than-expected U.S. inflation data.

The Kospi stood at 7,382.22 points as of 1:28 p.m. local time, up 525.39 points, or 7.66%, for the day. The rally followed a five-minute buy-side sidecar suspension activated at 9:06 a.m., after the Kospi 200 Futures index jumped 6.5% at the open, according to the Korea Exchange. A sidecar can be triggered when the futures index rises more than 5% above the prior session's close and holds for at least one minute.

The index closed at 6,856.83 on Tuesday, up 0.73% in a session that saw a modest recovery from an earlier rout. Wednesday's surge builds sharply on that rebound, coming just days after the Kospi suffered its worst-ever Seoul session over the weekend and extended losses further on Monday amid renewed Middle East tensions.

Chipmakers Drive the Rally

The advance was overwhelmingly powered by South Korea's two largest listed companies. SK Hynix, the world's second-largest memory chipmaker, jumped as much as 12% in Wednesday's session after its U.S.-listed shares soared 27.29% overnight to $193.92, according to trading data. Samsung Electronics climbed nearly 8% during the session as well, while smaller semiconductor equipment maker........

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