Seoul: Stocks rise after strong Wall Street rally

[SEOUL] South Korean stocks rose on Tuesday (Dec 28) following a strong close for US shares even as retail investors continued to sell to book profit before the year-end. The Korean won weakened, while the benchmark bond yield fell.

The benchmark Kospi rose 20.74 points, or 0.69 per cent, to 3,020.29.

Investors bought shares before the ex-dividend date and positive sentiment following a strong Wall Street rally also helped, said Huh Jae-hwan, an analyst at Eugene Investment & Securities.

Among heavyweights, technology giant Samsung Electronics rose 0.12 per cent and peer SK Hynix climbed 1.19 per cent, while LG Chem advanced 0.80 per cent and Naver gained 1.05 per cent.

Foreigners were net buyers of 439.1 billion won (S$500.2 million) worth of shares on the main board.

The won was quoted at 1,188.0 per dollar on the onshore settlement platform, 0.10 per cent lower than its previous close at 1,186.8.

In offshore trading, the won was quoted at 1,187.8 per dollar, down 0.2 per cent from the previous day, while in non-deliverable forward trading its 1-month contract was quoted at 1,188.3.

The Kospi has risen 5.11 per cent so far this year.

The trading volume during the session in the Kospi index was 591.97 million shares. Of the total traded issues of 931, the number of advancing shares was 524.

The won has lost 8.6 per cent against the dollar so far this year.

In money and debt markets, March futures on 3-year treasury bonds fell 0.03 point to 109.13.

The most liquid 3-year Korean treasury bond yield rose by 1.2 basis points to 1.788 per cent, while the benchmark 10-year yield fell by 0.7 basis point to 2.205 per cent.

REUTERS