South Korean shares rebounded 1.8 percent on Tuesday, with market leader Samsung Electronics Co Ltd and other large-cap shares climbing on bargain hunting, as investors bet recent losses were overdone.
A recovery in other Asian equity markets, including Japan and Hong Kong, also helped support investor sentiment, dealers said.
The benchmark Korean stock index has shed about 22 percent since hitting its 2004 peak of 939.52 points on April 23, wiping out 89 trillion won ($75.29 billion) in market value.
The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) ended up 1.78 percent at 741.99 points, after plunging more than five percent to a seven-month low a day earlier.
The market at one stage jumped more than two percent after opening down during a volatile session.
Samsung Electronics, the world's biggest maker of memory chips, led the market's rebound, adding 3.4 percent to 473,500 won. The stock was the biggest net gainer on the exchange. Decliners outpaced gainers by 376 to 354, with 72 titles ending unchanged.
Trade volume totalled 380 million shares, worth 2.8 trillion won, little changed from the previous day's 363.0 million shares, valued at 2.83 trillion won.
The June KOSPI 200 futures index added 2.15 points at 95.65 and the underlying KOSPI 200 spot index climbed by 2.04 points to 96.09.
The junior Kosdaq gained 1.69 percent at 382.11 points.