South Korean and Japanese shares rose on Monday, led by chipmaker heavyweights, after Wall Street rallied on Friday following a weak US jobs report that eased concerns about further Federal Reserve interest rate hikes.

The benchmark Kospi climbed approximately 50 points, or roughly 0.8 percent, to around 6,300, snapping seven consecutive weeks of declines. The Kosdaq surged more than 5 percent during the session, triggering a buy-side circuit breaker. According to the Korea Exchange, the Kosdaq's buy-side circuit breaker was activated at around 9:50 a.m. local time. The mechanism kicks in when the Kosdaq 150 futures index rises 6 percent or more while the Kosdaq 150 spot index gains at least 3 percent versus the previous close, sustained for a full minute.

In Japan, the Nikkei share average rose around 2 percent to roughly 66,900, tracking gains in AI and chip-linked stocks on Wall Street. The broader Topix edged up approximately 0.4 percent to roughly 4,090. One market participant attributed the Nikkei's advance to gains in chip-related stocks, with easing bets for a Federal Reserve rate hike cited as the primary driver.

South Korea and Japan host some of the world's largest semiconductor manufacturers and equipment suppliers, making their equity markets especially sensitive to shifts in the global chip cycle and rate-driven valuation changes for growth-oriented tech stocks.

However, uncertainty surrounding the Middle East conflict capped further gains on the Japanese index. Japan's economy remains more exposed than most to oil price swings given its import dependence, a vulnerability tied to the ongoing Strait of Hormuz standoff and tanker strike incidents.

The rally across both markets follows a sharp shift in US rate expectations after Friday's payrolls miss, the same repricing that drove gold to a seven-week high. That momentum is now flowing through into regional risk appetite. Korean chip stocks in particular have been a key beneficiary of the broader AI trade, and the scale of Monday's Kosdaq move suggests positioning had built up heavily on the short side after weeks of declines.

The Kosdaq circuit breaker trigger points to aggressive positioning rather than a modest relief bounce, consistent with a market that had been under sustained pressure and was primed for a sharp reversal on any dovish catalyst. Whether the rebound sustains will depend on upcoming US data and any further clarity from the Federal Reserve on its rate path.

Japan's more muted, capped advance underscores how oil and geopolitical risk remain a persistent overhang on Japanese equities, even during a broadly positive session for regional markets. Korean tech names, by contrast, trade more on the domestic AI and chip cycle than on oil dynamics.

Related: Gold hits seven-week high as weak US jobs data cuts rate-hike odds