Seoul shares sharply on US reciprocal tariff pause; Korean won spikes

The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) had rallied 126.94 points, or 5.53 percent, to 2,420.64 as of 11:20 a.m., sharply rebounding from the 17-month low the previous day, reports Yonhap news agency.

With the steep gain, the bourse operator issued a sidecar order at 9:06 a.m., halting program purchasing for five minutes, after the KOSPI 200 futures soared 5 percent for more than one minute.

Overnight, Wall Street posted one of the best days since the global financial crisis in 2008, with the S&P 500 surging 9.5 percent, the Dow Jones Industrial Average soaring 7.87 percent and the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite skyrocketing 12.16 percent.

The rally came after U.S. President Donald Trump lowered new tariffs on South Korea and other trading partners to 10 percent in what he calls a pause that will last for 90 days.

He said the decision was made considering they have reached out to U.S. trade officials for negotiations and have not retaliated against the reciprocal tariffs.

Meanwhile, Trump increased duties on China to 125 percent following Beijing's announcement of a plan to raise tariffs on U.S. goods to 84 percent in a retaliatory move.

In Seoul, market bellwether Samsung Electronics rose 5.09 percent, while its chipmaking rival SK hynix shot up 11.21 percent.

Leading battery maker LG Energy Solution soared 8.12 percent, and top automaker Hyundai Motor advanced 6.91 percent.

Major shipbuilders HD Hyundai Heavy and Hanwha Ocean escalated 9.71 percent and 6.27 percent, respectively.

Top container shipper HMM increased 6.95 percent, and major defense firm Hanwha Aerospace climbed 5.93 percent.

Financial shares also sharply gained ground, with KB Financial jumping 6.21 percent and Shinhan Financial rising 5.05 percent.

The local currency was trading at 1,456.6 won against the greenback at 11:20 a.m., up 27.5 won from the previous session.