SEOUL, March 20 (Xinhua) -- South Korean stocks and currency roared back Friday as fears of the economic fallout from the COVID-19 outbreak calmed down following the currency swap deal with the United States.
The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) jumped 108.51 points, or 7.44 percent, to settle at 1,566.15. Trading volume stood at 807 million shares worth 10.4 trillion won (8.4 billion U.S. dollars).
The KOSPI started 2.8 percent higher and extended gains, ending the seven-day losing streak. The daily gain marked the biggest in more than 11 years since December 2008.
Foreigners kept selling local stocks for the 12th consecutive session, but institutional and retail investors purchased shares after the currency swap deal worth 60 billion U.S. dollars between the central banks of South Korea and the United States.
It was double the amount of the currency swap agreement inked between the two central banks when the global financial crisis roiled market across the globe in October 2008.
Buoyed by the deal, the local currency surged versus the greenback. The won/dollar exchange rate tumbled 39.2 won to finish at 1,246.5 won per dollar, ending the six-day selling spree of the South Korean currency.
The small-cap KOSDAQ soared 39.40 points, or 9.20 percent, to close at 467.75, posting the fastest daily increase in nearly 11 and a half years since October 2008.
During the early trading, a sidecar was activated both in the KOSPI and the KOSDAQ to halt computer-programmed trading for five minutes. It is imposed when stock futures fluctuate more than 5 percent for at least a minute.
Large-cap shares gained ground. Market bellwether Samsung Electronics soared 5.7 percent, and memory chip giant SK Hynix advanced 8.4 percent. The most-used search engine Naver rebounded 6.9 percent, and biopharmaceutical behemoth Celltrion picked up 8.9 percent.
Leading chemical firm surged 18.48 percent, and Samsung BioLogics, the biopharmaceutical unit of Samsung Group, jumped 17.5 percent.
Bond prices ended higher. Yields on the liquid three-year treasury notes dipped 8.6 basis points to 1.107 percent, and the return on the 10-year government bonds slipped 4.6 basis points to 1.611 percent.
