South Korea's KOSPI extended gains to climb to the brink of the 4,700 level. The won-dollar exchange rate also stayed firm, pushing past 1,470 won.

On Jan. 13, the KOSPI closed up 67.85 points, or 1.47 percent, at 4,692.64 from the previous session. The intraday high was 4,693.07. Both the intraday and closing levels set fresh record highs. The index opened around the 4,650 level and trended higher in the afternoon on concentrated buying. The KOSPI has risen for 8 straight trading sessions.

Institutional investors were net buyers of 945.9 billion won, lifting the index. Individuals and foreign investors were net sellers of 998.9 billion won and 160.6 billion won, respectively.

Hyundai Motor Group shares surged, including Hyundai Mobis up 14.47 percent, Hyundai Motor up 10.63 percent and Kia up 5.18 percent. Hyundai Motor broke above 400,000 won to set a new high. Its market capitalization stands at 83.13 trillion won. Buying is seen as having been driven by expectations of benefits from physical AI.

At CES recently, Hyundai Motor Group showcased the humanoid robot Atlas developed by Boston Dynamics. It unveiled a mass-production roadmap and a commercialization strategy including cooperation with Google DeepMind.

Shares also gained on expectations of strong earnings, including shipbuilders HD Hyundai Heavy Industries up 6.79 percent, Hanwha Ocean up 2.88 percent and Samsung Heavy Industries up 2.84 percent. Defense stocks also strengthened, including Hanwha Aerospace up 5.78 percent and Hyundai Rotem up 6.42 percent. Shares of POSCO Holdings rose 13.89 percent, LG Energy Solution gained 3.96 percent, Naver added 3.52 percent and Samsung Biologics rose 2.64 percent.

In contrast, chipmakers including SK Hynix, down 1.47 percent, and Samsung Electronics, down 0.86 percent, came under pressure.