South Korea’s top mobile messenger operator, Kakao, replaced Samsung Biologics as the No. 6 company on the Kospi in terms of market capitalization Thursday, a day after its stock split.

Shares of Kakao, after a 5-for-1 stock split, jumped 7.59 percent to 120,500 won ($108.07) at the closing bell, lifting the company’s market cap to 53.48 trillion won.

The price of Kakao stocks with lowered face value surged over 18 percent during intraday trading, before the bourse operator interrupted by suspending trading for two minutes in fear of the shares triggering market volatility.

The Kakao share rally was led by retail investors, who purchased a net 434.8 billion won. Foreign and institutional investors, meanwhile, sold a net 277.4 billion won and 144.1 billion won, respectively.

Amid hopes of an economic recovery, the Kospi rose 0.38 percent to close at 3,194.33 while the nation’s secondary bourse, the Kosdaq, fell 0.05 percent to 1,013.90.

By Jie Ye-eun (yeeun@heraldcorp.com)