KOSPI rose more than 2 percent Monday, as institutional buying helped stocks rebound from early losses, shrugging off lingering concerns over the profitability of artificial intelligence (AI) investments. The benchmark closed at 5,859.08, up 2.24 percent. It opened 1.62 percent lower before reversing course as institutional investors stepped up purchases. Institutional investors bought a net 1.36 trillion won ($1.01 billion) of shares, while foreign and retail investors net sold 43.09 billion won and 1.41 trillion won, respectively. SK hynix gained 3.81 percent to close at 1,472,000 won, while Samsung Electronics climbed 1.78 percent to 229,000 won. SK Square, which announced plans to return at least 4.3 trillion won to shareholders out of more than 6.2 trillion won expected from SK hynix's cash dividends, also gained 5.91 percent to close at 950,000 won. The rebound came despite a rout in U.S. semiconductor shares on Friday (local time), when Intel plunged 28 percent and the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index tumbled 7.2 percent. Lee Kyoung-min, an analyst at Daishin Securities, said much