The Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) opened higher on Monday, surging over 2% during intraday trading before paring some gains. Chip stocks were in focus, with SK Hynix rising 1.5% after announcing an expansion plan worth over 54 trillion Korean Won (approximately 40 billion US dollars), and Samsung Electronics gaining about 2.3%. On the same day, the Korea Exchange activated the KOSDAQ SIDECAR mechanism, suspending programmatic buying.