Emerging market equities surged on Friday, recording their largest single-day gain in nearly two decades and putting a cap on a turbulent week, which helped narrow monthly losses. The South Korean benchmark index experienced a record-breaking rally.

The MSCI Emerging Markets Index climbed 6.6% on Friday, marking its best performance since 2008, and trimming its July decline to 3.3%.

"After weeks of correction, positioning in Asian tech stocks has been partially cleared out, so this rebound looks more like a short-covering rally than anything else," said Florian Ielpo, Head of Macro at Lombard Odier Investment Managers.

Goldman Sachs strategists, including Sunil Koul, noted that Friday's bounce aligns with their cautiously optimistic view on certain segments of the AI infrastructure sector, where profit growth remains robust. However, they cautioned that volatility could persist, "as leveraged positions, while down from their peaks, have not been fully unwound yet."