South Korean stocks hit a nearly eight-month high Monday, buoyed by strong gains in tech blue-chips and US jobs data signaling a cooling economy that raises the odds for the Federal Reserve to ease up on its monetary tightening. The local currency fell against the US dollar.

The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index advanced 21.67 points, or 0.87 percent, to close at 2,512.08, the highest since Aug. 17 last year.

Trading volume was high at 708.8 million shares worth 13.4 trillion won ($10.2 billion), but decliners outpaced gainers 676 to 222.

"Inflationary pressure in the US employment appears to be easing, as the increase in the average hourly wage also slowed in March compared with the previous month," Han Ji-young, an analyst at Kiwoom Securities Co., said.

The US jobs report, released Friday, showed that nonfarm payrolls slowed last month from a month earlier and came below the market expectations, indicating the economy is cooling.

Not only the employment data but also other economic indexes are showing signs of a slowdown, meaning that chances are high that the Fed will signal an end to its rate hike cycle, Han noted.

"In this aspect, the March CPI will help us get a better idea about whether the Fed will signal an end to the tough interest rate hikes at the end of its policy meeting in May," Han added.

The March consumer price index is set be released Wednesday.

Tech blue-chips drove up the Kospi, with market bellwether Samsung Electronics ending up 1.08 percent to 65,700 won and SK hynix gaining 1.8 percent to 90,700 won, on a positive market outlook following Samsung's announcement on a production cut in last week's earnings preview.

Top battery maker LG Energy Solution climbed 2.76 percent to 596,000 won and its parent firm LG Chem jumped 5.04 percent to 750,000 won on growing expectations the companies will benefit from a new US law on giving subsidies to electric vehicle buyers.

SK Innovation, a leading energy company that has battery-making unit SK On under its wing, soared 7.74 percent to 197,700 won. Battery components producer Psco Future M also finished up 3.04 percent to 305,000 won.

Domestic-oriented IT service and financial stocks ended lower.

Platform giant Kakao fell 0.85 percent to 58,100 won, and major banking firm KB Financial lost 0.96 percent to 46,550 won. Internet-only bank KakaoBank dipped 2.75 percent to 22,950 won.

The local currency ended at 1,319.70 won against the US dollar, down 3.0 won from Friday's close.