An electronic board showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index at a dealing room of the Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul on Friday. (Yonhap)
An electronic board showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index at a dealing room of the Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul on Friday. (Yonhap)

South Korean stocks ended higher Friday, driven by sharp gains in big-cap tech shares, including Samsung Electronics and SK hynix. The local currency gained ground against the US dollar amid the country's efforts to stabilize the foreign exchange market.

The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index added 21.06 points, or 0.51 percent, to close at 4,129.68.

Trade volume was slightly heavy at 502.7 million shares worth 16 trillion won ($11.1 billion), with losers outnumbering winners 639 to 246.

Foreigners and institutions net purchased 1.78 trillion won and 388 billion won worth of local shares, respectively, while retail investors dumped 2.2 trillion won.

The Kospi tracked gains on Wall Street on Wednesday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 0.6 percent higher, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite rose 0.22 percent.

The US Volatility Index, also known as the fear index, fell to 13.4 points, the lowest mark this year, while data also showed that applications for unemployment benefits declined last week, lifting investors' confidence in the world's largest economy.

"The Kospi went up as the inflow of foreign capital increased amid eased concerns over an artificial intelligence bubble," Lee Jae-won, an analyst at Shinhan Securities, said, noting that foreign purchases were mostly focused on semiconductor shares.

Tech giant Samsung Electronics soared 5.31 percent to an all-time high of 117,000 won following reports that it has independently developed a graphic processing unit for smartphones. Its chipmaking rival SK hynix climbed 1.87 percent to 599,000 won.

AI investment firm SK Square surged 4.21 percent to 334,500 won after an investment warning was lifted for the company.

Mirae Asset Securities shot up nearly 21 percent on expectations it will benefit from the anticipated initial public offering of SpaceX next year. Mirae Asset is known to have invested around 200 billion won in the US space giant.

On the other hand, leading battery maker LG Energy Solution went down 1.79 percent to 383,500 won, and power plant manufacturer Doosan Enerbility slid 3.5 percent to 73,600 won.

Shipbuilding and IT shares also lost ground.

Major shipbuilder HD Hyundai Heavy lost 1.35 percent to 512,000 won, Hanwha Ocean pulled back 2.1 percent to 116,500 won, and HD Korea Shipbuilding tumbled 3.12 percent to 403,000 won.

Internet portal operator Naver declined 2.11 percent to 231,500 won, and Kakao, the operator of the country's top mobile messenger, slipped 2.84 percent to 58,100 won.

The Korean won was quoted at 1,440.3 won against the US dollar, sharply up by 9.5 won from the previous session's close, after once falling below the 1,440-won mark on news that the National Pension Service has resumed its strategic foreign exchange hedging as part of efforts to stabilize the FX market.

On Wednesday, South Korea's FX authorities issued a verbal intervention as the local currency has remained near its weakest level in 16 years against the greenback in recent weeks. (Yonhap)