South Korea: Stocks rise for 7th straight session

[SEOUL] South Korean shares rose to seven-week peak on Monday as refineries and shipbuilders rallied on oil price surge, though a fall in memory chip stocks limited the gains.

The Seoul stock market's main KOSPI closed up 13.02 points, or 0.64 per cent, at 2,062.22, marking a seventh consecutive session of gains.

Shares of South Korean refineries and shipbuilders firmed as oil prices surged to six-month highs on fears over supply disruptions following the attack on Saudi Arabia's oil facilities on Saturday.

SK Innovation and S-Oil ended up 2.7 per cent and 2.3 per cent, respectively, while Samsung Heavy Industries added 3.6 per cent.

The KOSPI has risen 1.04 per cent so far this year, and gained 0.5 per cent in the previous 30 trading sessions.

The trading volume during the session in the KOSPI index was 480.87 million shares and, of the total traded issues of 892, the number of advancing shares was 649.

REUTERS