Seoul: Shares end month with biggest gain in nearly two years

SOUTH Korean shares rose more than 1 per cent on Monday (Oct 31) to end the month with the biggest gain in 22 months. The Korean won weakened, while the benchmark bond yield rose.

The Kospi rose 25.21 points or 1.11 per cent and ended the session at 2,293.61, its highest close since Sep 22.

The benchmark index rose 6.41 per cent in October, the fastest monthly rise since December 2020.

South Korea is in a period of national mourning this week after the Halloween crush over the weekend that killed more than 150 people, the deadliest since sinking of the Sewol ferry in 2014.

“The incident may lead to reduced appetite for consumer spending, in a way similar to the Sewol sinking back in 2014,” Mirae Asset Securities analyst Seo Sang-young said.

Retail shopping, travel and leisure stocks were among the worst performers. Shinsegae, Lotte Shopping and Hyundai Department Store fell between 3.05 and 4.38 per cent.

Among heavyweights, technology giant Samsung Electronics jumped 3.66 per cent, but peer SK Hynix lost 0.84 per cent and battery maker LG Energy Solution declined 0.75 per cent.

Internet portal Naver jumped the most in more than three months by rising 5.94 per cent, while mobile chat app Kakao gained 4 per cent, with its financial service affiliates Kakaobank and Kakaopay gaining 7.89 per cent and 4.12 per cent, respectively.

LG Innotek, a camera-parts supplier to Apple, rose 3.13 per cent.

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Foreigners were net buyers of shares worth 230.3 billion won (S$228.1 million). For the month, they purchased a net 3.3 trillion won, the second-biggest this year.

The won ended down 0.2 per cent at 1,424.3 per dollar on the onshore settlement platform.

Still, the currency ended the month with a 0.41 per cent gain, the first in five months.

December futures on three-year treasury bonds fell 0.2 point to 102.11.

The most liquid three-year Korean treasury bond yield rose by 8.3 basis points to 4.189 per cent, while the benchmark 10-year yield rose by 9.2 basis points to 4.255 per cent. REUTERS