South Korean stocks closed higher Wednesday as foreign buyers scooped up large-cap tech and telecom shares, offsetting a massive selling spree by institutional investors. The Korean won fell against the US dollar.
The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index advanced 4.67 points, or 0.19 percent, to close at 2,427.63. Trade volume was low at 258 million shares worth 5.2 trillion won ($5 billion), with gainers outnumbering losers 461 to 341.
Foreign investors reversed a seven-day selling streak and purchased a net 135.4 billion Korean won worth of KOSPI shares, while institutional investors offloaded a net 160.2 billion won. The rise of the main bourse mirrors overnight gains on Wall Street.
(Yonhap)
On Tuesday (local time), the US Dow Jones industrial average climbed 0.33 percent toward a fresh record, the S&P rose 0.24 percent and the Nasdaq Composite Index also gained 0.23 percent, buoyed by Apple Inc.'s strong earnings. Apple reported a 7.2 percent rise in quarterly revenue on better-than-expected sales of its iPhones.
"Investor sentiment has improved on eased worries over the IT sector due in part to better-than-expected earnings by Apple," said Kim Sung-hwan, an analyst at Bookook Securities.
Most large caps closed mixed on the Seoul bourse, with tech and telecom shares leading the gain.
Top cap Samsung Electronics ended at 2,245,000 won, up 0.82 percent from the previous session's close. Smaller rival LG Electronics gained 0.15 percent to 68,400 won and global chipmaker SK hynix jumped 0.82 percent to 68,000 won.
Mobile carriers also closed higher, with No. 1 player SK Telecom adding 2.16 percent to 283,500 won and the second-largest KT inching up 0.71 percent to 35,400 won. LG Uplus, the smallest in the country, moved up 3.05 percent to 16,900 won.
Meanwhile, stocks of Kakao, the operator of Korea's dominant messaging app KakaoTalk, fell 2.97 percent to end at 114,500 won after gaining over 18 percent in the past three sessions on the back of the popularity of Kakao Bank. Kakao Bank, South Korea's second Internet-only bank, said earlier that it has attracted some 1 million accounts just five days after its launch.
Auto shares closed lower, with leading automaker Hyundai Motor losing 0.11 percent to 163,000 won and its sister company, Kia Motors, shedding 0.26 percent to 39,050 won. Hyundai Mobis lost 2.31 percent to 274,500 won.
The local currency closed at 1,124 won against the US dollar, down 2.7 won from Tuesday's close.
Bond prices, which move inversely to yields, closed higher. The yield on three-year bonds lost 0.3 basis point to 1.730 percent, and the return on the benchmark five-year debts shed 0.2 basis points to 1.948 percent. (Yonhap)
