Seoul: Stocks close at record high for fifth straight session

[SEOUL] South Korean shares posted a record closing high on Monday for the fifth straight session, as retail investors continued to snap up tech giants such as Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix.

The won held steady, while the benchmark bond yield fell.

By 6.30am GMT, the benchmark Kospi rose 13.99 points or 0.51 per cent to 2,745.44.

Foreigners were net sellers of 89.6 billion won (S$110.2 million) worth of shares on the main board. Retail investors were net buyers of about one trillion won worth.

Samsung Electronics gained 1.96 per cent while SK Hynix jumped 2.61 per cent.

Boosting sentiment was China's November trade data, which showed exports rose at the fastest pace in almost three years on strong global demand.

Gains were capped as the South Korean government on Sunday said it would impose heightened social-distancing rules for the capital Seoul and surrounding areas to contain the nation's largest wave of coronavirus infection in nine months.

The won was quoted at 1,082.1 per US dollar on the onshore settlement platform, steady from its previous close.

In offshore trading, the won was quoted at 1,082.2 per dollar, up 0.1 per cent from the previous day, while in non-deliverable forward trading its one-month contract was quoted at 1,082.0.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was up 0.83 per cent.

The Kospi has risen 24.93 per cent so far this year, and gained 15.7 per cent in the previous 30 trading sessions.

The trading volume during the session in the Kospi index was 1,484.55 million shares. Of the total traded issues of 908, the number of advancing shares was 298.

The won has gained 6.9 per cent against the dollar this year.

In money and debt markets, December futures on three-year treasury bonds rose 0.05 point to 111.68.

The most liquid three-year Korean treasury bond yield fell by 0.3 basis point to 0.961 per cent, while the benchmark 10-year yield fell by 0.2 basis point to 1.648 per cent.

REUTERS