South Korea: Stocks jump most in 15 months after China cuts US import tariffs

[SEOUL] South Korean shares jumped nearly 3 per cent on Thursday, their most in 15 months, after China announced a cut in tariffs on some imported goods from the United States.

The Seoul stock market's main KOSPI ended up 62.31 points, or 2.88 per cent, at 2,227.94, posting its biggest single-day percentage gain since Nov 2, 2018.

China said it will halve additional tariffs levied against 1,717 products imported from the United States last year, following the signing of a Phase 1 trade deal that brought a truce to a bruising tariff dispute.

The South Korean market's rally was mainly driven by China's tariff-cut announcement, said Seo Sang-young, an analyst at Kiwoom Securities. This boosted expectations of further tariff reduction by the two countries, he added.

Foreigners were net buyers of US$128.75 million worth of shares on the main board.

The KOSPI has risen 1.38 per cent this year, but lost 1.3 per cent in the previous 30 trading sessions.

The trading volume during the session in the KOSPI index was 683.23 million shares and, of the total traded issues of 906, the number of advancing shares was 733.

REUTERS