The world’s hottest index was saved again by the world’s hottest stock play.

Shares of Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, which together make up more than half of market capitalization for South Korea's Kospi, rebounded Friday, helping to lift the benchmark above 8000 again.

KOSPI fell below 8,000 as a sell-side sidecar halted trading again, marking a record year for Korean market volatility.

The Kospi Index slumped by over 7% on July 2 as memory stocks dived. Samsung and SK Hynix shares dropped by over 5%. The index dropped below the lower side of the ascending channel.

Shares of Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, the world's two largest memory-chip makers that together account for more than half of South Korea's Kospi, slumped on Thursday, dragging the benchmark index sharply lower and prompting regulators to halt trading to calm the market.

Memory chipmaker SK Hynix is planning a blockbuster Nasdaq listing worth $29.4 billion.

Similarly, in Japan, the top drivers of the Topix and Nikkei 225 Index are Softbank, Kioxia, Furukawa Electric, and Taiyo Yuden. Kioxia has jumped by over 850% this year and 5,147% in the last 12 months.

South Korean stocks nosedived more than 8 percent Monday on renewed woes over AI profitability and concerns over a possible hawkish pivot of the U.S. Federal Reserve.

By Cynthia Kim and Jihoon Lee SEOUL, June 23 (Reuters) - South Korea's KOSPI plummeted 9.99%, its steepest drop in more than three months, on Tuesday as overseas investors sold chipmakers following regulatory signals that the sector's rally had gotten overheated.

The second KOSPI halt in a week shows the AI chip trade is still driving global market risk across all major regions.

South Korean stocks have soared in the past few months, with the KOSPI Index doubling this year, helped by the strong performance of Samsung and SK Hynix. It peaked at 9,388 this month and then pulled back to the current 8,