KOSPI soars more than 8% on Samsung wage agreement, Nvidia earnings beat

The benchmark KOSPI staged a strong rebound Thursday, rising more than 8 percent in a single session on the back of a labor agreement at Samsung Electronics and Nvidia’s better-than-expected earnings results.

The index opened at 7,486.37, up 277.42 points, or 3.85 percent, and extended gains throughout the session to close at 7,815.59, up 606.64 points, or 8.42 percent.

It was the KOSPI’s strongest daily advance in 34 trading sessions since an 8.44 percent jump on April 1 and marked the index’s sixth-largest one-day gain on record.

The KOSPI had briefly topped the 8,000 mark intraday on May 15 before tumbling amid heightened market volatility.

After two straight sessions of losses, the benchmark index rebounded sharply.

Shares of Samsung Electronics also surged 8.51 percent to close at 299,500 won ($199), helping lift overall market sentiment.

The firm's management and labor unions reached a tentative wage agreement late Wednesday, preventing a planned strike at the world’s largest memory chipmaker.

Positive momentum was also fueled by overnight gains on Wall Street, particularly a