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The Washington-Beijing trade agreement increased investor demand for the riskier assets, extending South Korean markets’ winning run to a third day on Wednesday. The US dollar declined in value relative to the local currency.

After rising 1.17 percent on Monday and 0.04 percent on Tuesday, the benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) gained 32.15 points, or 1.23 percent, to end at 2,640.57.

Gainers outnumbered losers 588 to 291 in the moderately sized trade volume of 386.7 million shares valued at 8.76 trillion won ($6.17 billion), according to Yonhap news agency.

The sharp increase was driven by institutional and foreign buyers. A net selling of 1 trillion won by individuals was offset by a net purchase of 470.5 billion won by offshore investors and a net purchase of 534.5 billion won by institutions.

Among the winners were shares in semiconductors, biotechnology, and entertainment.

The U.S. artificial intelligence (AI) chipmaker’s agreement to sell its Blackwell chip to Saudi Arabia caused processor giant SK Hynix, a major supplier to Nvidia, to soar 3.78 percent to 206,000 won.

Hanmi Semiconductor, a supplier of chipmaking equipment, increased 3.46 percent to 83,800 won, while Samsung Electronics increased 0.88 percent to 57,400 won.

SK Bioscience rose 0.5 percent to 40,200 won, while Samsung Biologics, a leading biotech company, jumped 0.5 percent to 1 million won.

The biggest production studio in the nation, CJ ENM, increased 2.85 percent to 57,800 won, while K-pop giant Hybe increased 3 percent to 275,000 won.

Defense companies also ended the day higher, recovering from a previous decline in the wake of potential ceasefires in the Middle East and Europe. Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) surged 5.23 percent to 90,600 won, while industry leader Hanwha Aerospace rose 1.99 percent to 820,000 won.

At 3:30 p.m., the local currency was valued at 1,420.2 won vs. the US dollar, which was 4.2 won less than the previous session.

Bond prices closed higher because they move in the opposite direction of yields. The benchmark five-year government bond yield dropped 1.4 basis points to 2.482 percent, while the yield on three-year Treasurys dropped 1.9 basis points to 2.351 percent.