Seoul: Stocks rebound on Wall Street boost, bond yields slip

[SEOUL] South Korean shares rose on Tuesday as Samsung Electronics and other blue-chip tech stocks tracked Wall Street peers higher on hopes for an economic recovery, while a drop in US bond yields also boosted sentiment.

The benchmark Kospi rose 21.46 points, or 0.70 per cent, to end at 3,067.17, recovering from a 0.28 per cent decline on Monday.

Among the heavyweights, technology giant Samsung Electronics rose 1.22 per cent and peer SK Hynix jumped 2.93 per cent, while LG Chem fell 7.76 per cent and Naver rose 0.65 per cent.

Buying from institutional investors buoyed the Kospi, but gains were capped ahead of the US Federal Reserve's two-day policy meeting, said Na Jeong-hwan, an analyst at DS Investment & Securities.

Foreigners were net sellers of 27.9 billion won (S$33.1million) worth of shares on the main board.

The Kospi has risen 6.74 per cent so far this year, and lost 2.5 per cent in the previous 30 trading sessions.

The trading volume during the session in the Kospi index was 1,111.84 million shares. Of the total traded issues of 912, the number of advancing shares was 557.

REUTERS