[THE INVESTOR]  South Korean shares ended higher on Sept. 20 helped by increased buying by foreigners. The local currency fell against the US dollar.

The benchmark KOSPI gained 9.93 points, or 0.49 percent, to 2,025.71.

The broad index bucked overnight losses on Wall Street. The Dow Jones industrial average lost 0.02 percent, with the tech-heavy NASDAQ composite index declining 0.18 percent.

Analysts said investors took a wait-and-see attitude ahead of a US Federal Open Market Committee meeting due this week.



An increased foreign buying has a positive influence on the local bourse, said Kim Ye-eun, an analyst at LIG Investment & Securities.

“Foreign investors bought large-cap stocks such as Samsung Electronics, pushing up the benchmark index,” Kim said.

Foreigners remained net buyers of local stocks with a purchase worth more than 98 billion won (US$87 million), while institutions sold a net 346 billion won on profit-taking.

Large-cap stocks were mixed across the board. Market bellwether Samsung Electronics gained 1.73 percent to 1,585,000 won and top automaker Hyundai Motor was up 1.09 percent to 138,500 won.

Meanwhile, top auto parts maker Hyundai Mobis lost 0.17 percent to 286,500 won and Naver, the top internet portal operator, inched down 2.34 percent to 836,000 won.

The local currency was trading at 1,120.60 won against the US dollar, down 2.50 won from the previous session’s close.

(theinvestor@heraldcorp.com)