The Kospi Index soared as much as 17%, the biggest intraday advance on record, rebounding from a three-day sell-off

Asian stocks rallied on Friday after South Korean equities posted a record intraday gain, as investors renewed bets on the artificial intelligence trade following this week’s rout.

The yen weakened, giving back some of Thursday’s intervention-driven gains.

The Kospi Index – a bellwether for AI investments – soared as much as 17%, the biggest intraday advance on record, rebounding from a three-day sell-off.

Chipmakers SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics both climbed nearly 20%. Nikkei 225 Stock Average rose more than 4%, lifting the MSCI Asia-Pacific Index 3.6%.

Among the main market moves, Topix added 1.5%, S&P/ASX 200 advanced 0.4%, Hang Seng dropped 0.3% and the Shanghai Composite added 0.5%.

In Japan, the yen held its losses as the Bank of Japan (BOJ) kept its policy rate unchanged.

The currency had posted its biggest gain against the US dollar in more than two years on Thursday, following another round of intervention by authorities.

The currency weakened 0.7% to 160.72 per US dollar, after surging more than 3% to 157.98 on Thursday.

Markets are seeing strong buying after stocks had been pushed lower by leveraged bets, away from fundamentals, said Hiroki Takei, a strategist at Resona Holdings.

Robust earnings from Microsoft and Amazon have also given investors greater confidence that the massive investments in AI can ultimately be recouped.

The rebound in technology stocks offered investors a reprieve after this week’s sell-off, driven by concern that the billions of dollars being poured into AI may not generate commensurate returns.

Gold traded around US$4,100 an ounce. Oil declined, with Brent crude slipping 1%. The international benchmark is still up by about a fifth in July.