Seoul: Stocks rise on foreign buying as Deutsche Bank woes ease

[SEOUL] South Korean shares edged up on Tuesday, helped by foreign demand as investors placed their bets on a reduced US fine on German lender Deutsche Bank .

The Korea Composite Stock Price Index (Kospi) rose 0.5 per cent to 2,054.45 points at 0240 GMT.

"Market participants, especially foreigners, are buying local equities again as they believe the Deutsche Bank issue has quieted down a fair bit," said Kim Ye Eun, a stock analyst at LIG Investment & Securities.

Deutsche Bank is seeking to reach a settlement before next month's US presidential election, over a multi-billion dollar penalty for mis-selling mortgage-backed securities, but its shares continued to fall on Monday after recovering from a record low at the end of last week.

Samsung Electronics Co Ltd's third-quarter earnings guidance, expected to be released on Oct 7, is also partly supporting the main bourse, Ms Kim said.

Samsung Electronics shares gained more than one per cent.

Offshore investors were poised to be net buyers, purchasing 79.7 billion Korean won (S$98.85 million) worth of Kospi shares near mid-session.

SK Hynix Inc rose more than 3 per cent on investors' expectations about its positive September quarter earnings.

Advancers far outnumbered decliners 510 to 298.

The South Korean won traded slightly weaker, at 1,103.4 against the US dollar, down 0.2 per cent compared to the previous close of 1,101.3.

December futures on three-year treasury bonds shed 0.06 point to 110.91.

REUTERS