[THE INVESTOR] South Korean stocks ended higher on Oct. 18, supported by gains in finance, steel and chemical industries. The local currency rose against the US greenback.

The benchmark KOSPI climbed 12.82 points, or 0.63 percent, to 2,040.43.

Trade volume came to 300.93 million shares worth 3.8 trillion won (US$3.30 billion), with advancers outnumbering decliners 432 to 366.

Individuals net-sold 286 billion won worth of stocks, but it was offset by the net buying by foreign and institutional traders of shares worth 191.5 billion won and 84.1 billion won, respectively.



Market watchers took note of a limited impact from a fall in global oil prices.
“Although international oil prices hovered below US$50, the price drop was limited on expectations over an OPEC meeting in November,” Seo Sang-young, a Kiwoom Securities analyst, said.

Another Seoul-based brokerage, Bookook Securities, said the KOSPI won’t be swayed heavily by local firms’ regular earnings reports.

Samsung Electronics was off 0.06 percent to finish at 1,589,000 won and the state-run Korea Electric Power Corp. lost 0.38 percent to 52,700 won.

Leading automaker Hyundai Motor advanced 1.13 percent to 134,500 won and POSCO, a major steelmaker, jumped 3.45 percent to 240,000 won.

LG Chem and Lotte Chemical gained 2.08 percent to 245,000 won and 2.10 percent to 316,000 won, respectively.

Shinhan Financial jumped 3.17 percent to 43,590 won, KB Financial 3.52 percent to 41,200 won and Hana Financial 1.92 percent to 31,900 won.

The local currency closed at 1,129.35 won against the US dollar, up 8.55 won from the previous session.

Bond prices, which move inversely to yields, closed lower. The yield on three-year Treasurys ascended 0.3 basis point to 1.353 percent and the return on the benchmark five-year government bond gained 0.9 basis point to 1.428 percent.

(theinvestor@heraldcorp.com)