South Korean stocks ended 0.86 percent higher Tuesday as investor sentiment was soothed by overnight results on Wall Street that eked out gains despite Russia‘s downgraded credit rating and the Greek election outcome, analysts said. The local currency gained ground against the U.S. dollar.

The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index moved up 16.72 points to 1,952.40. Trading volume was high at 456.5 million shares worth 4.51 trillion won ($4.18 billion), with gainers beating decliners 464 to 350.

Analysts said investors were assured after seeing that stock markets abroad were not too shaken by developments in Russia and Greece.

“There have been concerns regarding election results in Greece, as well as the downfall of Russia’s credit rating, but stock markets abroad were not hit very hard by these factors, which in turn helped to recover investor sentiment,” said Bae Sung-jin, an analyst at Hyundai Securities Co.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average inched up 0.03 percent and the tech-laden NASDAQ also gained 0.29 percent, standing ground even after Standard & Poor‘s slashed Russia’s foreign currency rating to junk.

Overseas markets did not react heavily to the election of the anti-austerity Syriza party in Greece. Although the results abated jitters concerning the country‘s eurozone exit, investors may now be concerned over new conflicts between the leftist party and other eurozone governments in future negotiations, analysts said. (Yonhap)