Japanese and South Korean stock markets showed divergent trends, with Korean stocks surging over 3%

Odaily Planet Daily News The Nikkei 225 index closed down 613.41 points, or 0.88%, at 69,174.97 points on Wednesday, June 24. The Korea KOSPI index experienced volatile intraday trading, surging over 4% in early trading before briefly turning negative by 1%, then rebounding strongly in the afternoon to gain over 4%, closing up 303.97 points, or 3.71%, at 8,507.81 points; Samsung Electronics closed up nearly 10%, while SK Hynix rose nearly 1%.