Seoul: South Korean stocks experienced a significant surge on Monday, rising more than 2 percent as investors heavily invested in Samsung Electronics' shares, following the company's announcement of an extensive buyback plan. Concurrently, the Korean won appreciated against the U.S. dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) climbed 52.21 points, or 2.16 percent, to close at 2,469.07, marking the largest daily gain since September 26, when the index had increased by 2.9 percent. According to Yonhap News Agency, the trading volume was moderate, with 431.2 million shares valued at 10.4 trillion won (approximately US$7.5 billion), as gainers outnumbered losers by 614 to 282. Both institutions and individual investors were net buyers, purchasing 3 billion won and 5.5 billion won worth of stocks, respectively, while foreign investors offloaded a net 72.8 billion won. Samsung Electronics, the top-cap company, saw its shares soar by 5.98 percent to 56,700 won. The surge followed the world's la rgest memory chipmaker's announcement on Friday of a plan to repurchase shares worth 10 trillion won in a bid to enhance its market value. The company's shares had been suffering due to poorer-than-expected earnings and escalating uncertainties, hitting a low of 49,900 won on Thursday, the lowest level since June 2020. In the automotive sector, Hyundai Motor experienced a significant rise of 5.34 percent to 217,000 won, while its affiliate Kia rose by 5.57 percent to 96,700 won. Energy stocks also performed well, with SK Innovation, the leading refinery, increasing by 6.04 percent to 101,900 won, and state-run Korea Gas Corp. gaining 4.08 percent to 42,100 won. Among insurers, Samsung Fire and Marine Insurance experienced a notable increase of 10.48 percent to 369,000 won. Meanwhile, the food and beverage giant Nongshim rose by 3.99 percent to 339,000 won. However, not all sectors performed positively; SK hynix, a major chipmaker, fell by 3.65 percent to 171,700 won following reports of potential delays in Nvidia's new artificial intelligence chip due to overheating issues. SK hynix is a key supplier of high bandwidth memory chips to Nvidia. In the currency market, the Korean won was trading at 1,395.2 against the U.S. dollar as of 3:30 p.m., reflecting a rise of 3.6 won from the previous session.