South Korean stocks closed slightly higher Tuesday but spent most of the session giving back their early tech gains. The Korean won went up against the US dollar.
The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index added 6.94 points, or 0.28 percent, to close at 2,515.74.
Trading volume was slim at 462.1 million shares worth 9.05 trillion won ($6.77 billion), with losers outnumbering gainers 498 to 373.
Offshore investors and institutions bought a net combined 46.92 billion won worth of shares, while retail investors sold a net 49.42 billion won worth of shares.
Overnight the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite rallied 1.56 percent, with US chipmaker Nvidia rising 8.3 percent and Tesla jumping 7.33 percent on rosy earnings and growth prospects.
The Seoul stock market got off to a strong start, boosted by the tech advances on Wall Street. The Kospi surged nearly 1 percent to hit 2,533.43 right after the opening bell.
Seoul stocks, however, reversed earlier gains during the day, as investors look warily toward the annual Jackson Hole Economic Symposium later this week to discuss the likely direction of global interest rates.
Most top-cap companies closed mixed.
Market bellwether Samsung Electronics remained flat at 66,600 won, while its smaller semiconductor rival SK hynix advanced 0.09 percent to 116,500 won.
Leading battery maker LG Energy Solution jumped 2.47 percent to 539,000 won, Samsung SDI increased 1.36 percent to 598,000 won, and LG Chem rose 0.88 percent to 573,000 won.
Internet giant Naver surged 3.03 percent to 221,000 won, and Kakao advanced 0.52 percent to 48,650 won.
Carmakers also performed well, with top automaker Hyundai Motor climbing 0.97 percent to 187,900 won and Kia going up 0.9 percent to 78,800 won.
Among the decliners, major biotech firm Samsung Biologics shed 0.64 percent to 773,000 won and Celltrion lost 1.17 percent to 143,400 won.
The local currency closed at 1,335.5 won against the US dollar, up 7.1 won from the previous session's close. (Yonhap)
