South Korean stocks, shaken by a steep fall a day earlier, rebounded by nearly 7 percent at the close on Monday. A buy-side sidecar was triggered after the first sell-side sidecar of the year was activated the previous day. Bargain buying concentrated, pushing the KOSPI to a record closing high.

The KOSPI ended up 338.41 points, or 6.84 percent, at 5,288.08, the Korea Exchange said. The index opened at 5,114.81, up 165.14 points, or 3.34 percent, from the previous session's close of 4,949.67.

Institutions and foreigners led the rise as they bought 2.1687 trillion won and 703.3 billion won worth of shares, respectively. Individuals sold 2.9376 trillion won worth, after making record-level purchases of more than 5 trillion won the previous day, in what appeared to be profit-taking.

Top stocks by market capitalisation rose across the board.

SK Hynix rose 9.28 percent to end at 907,000 won, returning to the "900,000 won Hynix" mark. Samsung Electronics jumped 11.37 percent on the day to close at 167,500 won.

Other top market-cap shares also ended higher, including Hyundai Motor up 2.82 percent, LG Energy Solution up 2.89 percent, Samsung Biologics up 2.22 percent, SK Square up 8.12 percent, Hanwha Aerospace up 4.84 percent and HD Hyundai Heavy Industries up 6.01 percent.

The Kosdaq also surged, ending up 45.97 points, or 4.19 percent, at 1,144.33.