Seoul: Stocks climb as more economies reopen

[SEOUL] South Korean shares rose on Tuesday as investors weighed spiking cases of coronavirus in some parts of Asia against the accelerating pace of economic growth as more economies reopen in the west.

The benchmark Kospi climbed 38.53 points, or 1.23 per cent, to 3,173.05.

Among the heavyweights, technology giant Samsung Electronics was flat and peer SK Hynix rose 2.98 per cent, while LG Chem climbed 2.44 per cent and Naver added 1.60 per cent.

The market has been repeatedly going up and down over the past few sessions in a boxed-in level, and such narrow range could continue for the next few days as the extent of economic recovery varies across the globe, said Huh Jae-hwan, an analyst with Eugene Investment & Securities.

While Taiwan is racing to contain its worst outbreak, the British economy reopened, giving 65 million people a measure of freedom after a four-month Covid-19 lockdown. With accelerating vaccination rates, France and Spain have relaxed Covid-related restrictions, and on Saturday, Portugal and the Netherlands eased travel restrictions.

Foreigners were net sellers of 347.5 billion won (S$409.5 million) worth of shares on the main board.

The Kospi has risen 10.43 per cent so far this year, and gained 0.7 per cent in the previous 30 trading sessions.

The trading volume during the session in the Kospi index was 774.39 million shares. Of the total traded issues of 908, the number of advancing shares was 571.

South Korean markets will be closed on Wednesday for a public holiday.

REUTERS