South Korean stocks finished more than 1 percent higher Friday as investor sentiment was boosted by better-than-expected recent US jobless data, soothing recent recession fears that had rocked global financial markets. The local currency gained against the US dollar.

The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index added 31.7 points, or 1.24 percent, to close at 2,588.43.

Trade volume was moderate at 464.3 million shares worth 9.5 trillion won ($6.96 billion), with gainers largely outnumbering decliners 698 to 202.

Institutions led the rally, scooping up 33.5 billion won worth of shares, while foreigners sold a net 7.4 billion won and individuals dumped a net 27.2 billion won.

The KOSPI lost nearly 9 percent on Monday, marking the steepest daily loss in 16 years since the 2008 global financial crisis amid US recession fears spreading across the globe. It made a rebound on Tuesday and Wednesday, led by gains in tech shares, but fell again on Thursday on lingering slowdown woes.

Overnight, the latest weekly jobless claims data pushed up US stock indexes, calming recession fears that had caused the global rout.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.76 percent, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite jumped 2.87 percent.

In Seoul, most shares ended in positive territory.

Tech companies led the rally as Samsung Electronics, the world's largest memory chip maker, rose 1.77 percent to 74,700 won and No. 2 memory chip maker SK hynix jumped 4.96 percent to 171,500 won.

Top carmaker Hyundai Motor added 2.75 percent to 243,000 won and its sister Kia edged up 0.3 percent to 101,900 won.

Leading oil refinery SK Innovation climbed 3.38 percent to 101,000 won, and LG Chem advanced 3.44 percent to 286,000 won.

Naver, South Korea's No. 1 online portal operator, added 0.61 percent to 163,700 won on a strong second-quarter earnings report.

But its rival Kakao fell 3.77 percent to 37,000 won after its founder Kim Beom-su was indicted the previous day on stock manipulation charges related to its takeover of K-pop powerhouse SM Entertainment.

Entertainment shares were mixed as CJ ENM lost 1.02 percent to 77,800 won and Hybe, the record label behind global superstar BTS, sank 6.31 percent to 172,200 won.

The local currency was trading at 1,364.6 won against the dollar as of 3:30 p.m., up 12.6 won from the previous session. (Yonhap)