The country’s regulators have imposed increasingly stringent restrictions on single-stock leveraged exchange-traded funds tracking SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics.

The KOSPI index closed lower at 5,593.56 points on Thursday, falling more than 1.23% from the previous trading day. The benchmark index attempted a recovery earlier in the session, surging to 5,976.82 points during intraday trading and getting close to the 6,000 mark.

Record corporate profits aren't stopping investors from taking money off the table as retail traders pile into South Korean stocks.

Asian stocks surged on Friday as strong results from Microsoft and Amazon revived confidence in artificial-intelligence spending, helping South Korea’s battered market stage a record comeback. The Kospi jumped as much as 16.5%, while Japan’s Nikkei climbed more than 5% and Taiwan’s Taiex gained over 7%.

South Korean stocks surged on Friday, with the KOSPI index rising nearly 18%. Despite the dramatic gains, the index was still down for the week and the month, a testament to how volatile Korean equities have been as of late.

South Korea's KOSPI broke 7,000 Thursday as Citi keeps a bullish 10,000 target despite the index's recent volatility.

I came to the domestic market just in case, but I’m planning to return to the US market. I have faith that the US market will rescue me even if I’m stuck, but I don’t have that belief in the domestic market.

Global markets toay: US stocks staged a powerful rebound on Thursday, as Microsoft's blockbuster earnings sparked a broad-based rally in technology stocks