Seoul: South Korean stocks finished markedly higher to hit a 10-month high Thursday, driven by gains in tech shares, following strong earnings from U.S. chip giant Nvidia Corp. The Korean won rose against the U.S. dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 50.49 points, or 1.89 percent, to close at 2,720.64. It marked the highest level since Aug. 2, when the index finished at 2,725.02.

According to Yonhap News Agency, trade volume was moderate at 444.45 million shares worth 10.79 trillion won (US$7.8 billion), with winners beating losers 749 to 151. Institutions and foreign investors bought a net 684.56 billion won and 290.27 billion won worth of stocks, respectively. Individuals sold 996.99 billion won worth of shares.

The KOSPI got a boost from Nvidia's earnings results. It reported a 69 percent on-year increase in revenue, reaching US$44.1 billion for the February-April period, analysts said. "With the vast majority of U.S. President Donald Trump's global tariffs blocked by the U.S. trade court, institutional and foreign buying pushed up the benchmark index," Lee Jae-won, an analyst at Shinhan Securities Co., said.

In Seoul, tech and auto stocks led the rally. Market heavyweight Samsung Electronics rose 0.36 percent to 56,100 won, while chip giant SK hynix jumped 1.92 percent to 212,000 won. Top carmaker Hyundai Motor gained 2.74 percent to 191,000 won, its smaller affiliate Kia rose 4.72 percent to 93,200 won and leading shipbuilder HD Hyundai jumped 11.26 percent to 108,700 won.

Among decliners, leading battery maker LG Energy Solution fell 0.35 percent to 288,000 won and state-run utility Korea Electric Power Corp. shed 2.48 percent to 29,550 won. The local currency was quoted at 1,375.9 won against the greenback at 3:30 p.m., up 0.6 won from the previous session.