Seoul shares sharply up late Monday morning on extended tech rally

A dealing room of Hana Bank in Seoul, Monday / Yonhap

Korean stocks traded sharply higher late Monday morning as investors continued to snap up tech shares, offsetting a lack of progress in peace talks between the United States and Iran.

Opening a tad higher, the benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) was up 391.91 points, or 4.39 percent, to 8,858,26 as of 11:20 a.m.

Washington and Tehran have been negotiating over a draft agreement aimed at ending the conflict and reopening the Strait of Hormuz, but the lack of a meaningful breakthrough over the weekend helped push oil prices higher.

Despite the lack of progress in the Middle East talks, tech shares rallied on expectations that the artificial intelligence (AI)-driven semiconductor boom will continue, lifting chipmakers and other AI-related stocks.

South Korea's exports surged 53 percent from a year earlier to a new monthly high of $87.8 billion in May, driven by the semiconductor supercycle, government data showed.

Market bellwether Samsung Electronics jumped 9.46 percent, and its chipmaking rival SK hynix advanced 2.36 percent.

Robot and AI-related stocks traded higher on expectations of potential partnership opportunities ahead of U.S. chip giant Nvidia Corp. CEO Jensen Huang's visit to South Korea later this week.

LG Electronics skyrocketed 29.35 percent, and portal operator Naver surged 11.75 percent.

The Korean won was trading at 1,508.75 won against the U.S. dollar at 11:20 a.m., down 0.85 won from the previous session.