South Korean shares closed slightly up on Thursday, with hopes for solid first-quarter earnings spurring foreign buying of technology shares, but profit-taking by domestic investors capping gains.
Foreign confidence in the market was bolstered after Standard & Poor's said it was bullish about Asian stock markets, citing Malaysia, Hong Kong and South Korea as star performers.
The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) finished up 0.26 percent at 882.75 points.
"The market looks to be gearing up to move into a higher trading range, ending a recent lacklustre period stuck in the 860-880 point region," said Seo Hyung-seok, an analyst at Sejong Securities.
The world's top maker of memory chips, Samsung Electronics Co Ltd, gained 0.52 percent to close at a record high of 575,000 won.
Shares in smaller rival Hynix Semiconductor Inc also climbed 1.63 percent at 12,450 won.
Foreign investors, the main driving force behind a recent rally in local tech stocks, bought a net 121.1 billion won ($106 million) worth of shares.
But local institutions and retail investors were more cautious due to concerns about a stronger won and oil price volatility, selling a net 60.2 billion won and a net 48.3 billion won in shares, respectively.
Among leading gainers, shipbuilding shares climbed on optimism rising global ship prices would boost earnings, offsetting concerns about higher steel prices and a stronger won.
Volume totalled at 286.9 million shares, valued at 2.1 trillion won. Gainers topped losers by 375 to 332 with 95 stocks unchanged.
The June KOSPI 200 futures index was up 0.55 points at 116.60, while the underlying KOSPI 200 spot index rose 0.31 points to 116.34 points.
The junior Kosdaq ended up 1.11 percent at 439.00.
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