South Korea's KOSPI opened lower on Tuesday but turned higher during the session and ended in the 7,800s after rising more than 2 percent. The KOSPI rose 200.86 points, or 2.63 percent, from the previous day to 7,844.01, setting another record high close.

The index opened down 129.50 points, or 1.69 percent, at 7,513.65 and at one point early in the session slipped to 7,402.36. It turned higher at about 10:19 a.m. and later regained the 7,800 level.

Foreigners net sold 3.72 trillion won of KOSPI shares as the dollar-won exchange rate rose to the 1,490 won range, taking profits. Individuals and institutions net bought 1.89 trillion won and 1.69 trillion won, respectively, preventing a fall. Program trading logged net sales of 1.17 trillion won.

By sector, auto parts rose 10.21 percent and autos gained 8.49 percent, leading advances, while electric and electronics stocks also posted gains in the 3 percent range. Hyundai Motor surged 9.91 percent to 710,000 won, hitting a 52-week high, after its smart factory at Hyundai Motor Group Metaplant America (HMGMA) in the U.S. state of Georgia drew attention from local media and expectations grew for a Nasdaq listing of its robotics unit Boston Dynamics. Kia rose 6.65 percent and Hyundai Mobis gained 18.43 percent.

Chip shares also gained. SK Hynix set a record high of 1,999,000 won during the session and ended up 7.68 percent at 1,976,000 won. Samsung Electronics fell more than 6 percent early after labor talks broke down, but pared losses and ended up 1.79 percent at 284,000 won. Samsung Electro-Mechanics rose 7.41 percent, SK Square gained 5.68 percent and HD Hyundai Heavy Industries added 3.68 percent. LG Energy Solution fell 2.93 percent and Doosan Enerbility slid 4.46 percent.

Morgan Stanley, in a report on the day, presented a year-end KOSPI forecast range of 6,500 to 9,500 points and set a first-half target of 8,500.

The KOSDAQ index ended down 2.36 points, or 0.20 percent, at 1,176.93. Foreigners and institutions net sold 610.2 billion won and 3.0 billion won, respectively, while individuals net bought 604.9 billion won. Secondary battery and biotech stocks such as EcoPro BM, down 4.09 percent, EcoPro, down 3.36 percent, Kolon TissueGene, down 11.53 percent, and HLB, down 5.48 percent, fell, while Alteogen rose 3.51 percent, Rainbow Robotics gained 2.69 percent and Jusung Engineering climbed 7.69 percent.