South Korea: Stocks close higher on Trump's remarks on trade talks

Published Fri, Dec 6, 2019 · 07:55 AM

[SEOUL] South Korean shares ended 1 per cent higher on Friday as investors cheered US President Donald Trump's latest comments about its initial trade deal with China.

The KOSPI ended up 21.11 points, or 1.02 per cent, at 2,081.85. For the week, the benchmark shed 0.29 per cent, marking its third straight weekly drop.

The KOSPI has risen 2 per cent so far this year, but lost 1.2 per cent in the previous 30 trading sessions.

The trading volume during the session on the KOSPI index was 433.33 million shares and, of the total traded issues of 905, the number of advancing shares was 596.

US-China trade talks are "moving right along," Mr Trump said on Wednesday, striking an upbeat tone even as Chinese officials held fast to their line that existing tariffs must come off as part of an interim deal to de-escalate the 17-month long trade war between the two nations.

The optimism over US-China trade deal persisted, said Kim Yong-koo, an analyst at Hana Financial Investment. The likelihood of their trade deal seems more concrete, he added.