Seoul: Stocks end at near 2-week high as Omicron fears ease

[SEOUL] South Korean shares ended on Tuesday (Dec 7) at the highest level in nearly 2 weeks, extending gains into a fifth session, on hopes that the Omicron coronavirus variant may be mild. Both the won and the benchmark bond yield rose.

The benchmark Kospi closed up 18.47 points or 0.62 per cent at 2,991.72, the highest since Nov 24.

Among the heavyweights, Samsung Electronics rose 1.44 per cent following the chip giant's biggest reshuffle since 2017, while its peer SK Hynix added 2.53 per cent.

Investors appeared to be reassured by comments from Dr Anthony Fauci, the top US infectious disease official, that the Omicron variant does not seem too severe.

At home, there were 4,954 new Covid-19 cases for Monday (Dec 6), while a total of 36 Omicron cases have been reported so far.

Gains in stocks were limited as investors refrained from making big bets ahead of the US consumer price report due on Friday (Dec 3) that may strengthen the case for faster tapering of Fed's asset purchases.

Foreigners were net buyers of 206.6 billion won (S$239.6 million) worth of shares on the main board.

The won ended at 1,179.5 per dollar on the onshore settlement platform, up 0.30 per cent.

In offshore trading, the won was quoted at 1,178.9 per dollar, up 0.1 per cent, while in non-deliverable forward trading its 1-month contract was quoted at 1,179.4.

In money and debt markets, December futures on 3-year treasury bonds fell 0.02 point to 108.93.

The most liquid 3-year Korean treasury bond yield rose by 0.8 basis point to 1.872 per cent, while the benchmark 10-year yield rose by 2.4 basis points to 2.236 per cent.

REUTERS