South Korean shares closed more than one percent higher on Friday, as foreign investors bought on optimism of solid corporate earnings results, targeting Samsung Electronics Co and other tech stocks.
The market appeared to be moving forward as concerns about the impact of President Roh Moo-hyun's impeachment began to fade and on comments from the head of the central bank that the economy should pick up in the second quarter of 2004.
Investor are awaiting the release of 2003 gross domestic product data on Tuesday to gauge the strength of the economy, given worries about weak consumption and political uncertainty.
The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) ended 1.2 percent higher at 883.33 points.
"The market is giving high marks to the acting president for his stable management of the state and his efforts to assure investors, particularly foreign investors, that there won't be any sharp turnaround in policies," said Jeon Sang-pil, strategist at Samsung Securities.
"It's a political crisis and doesn't have a far-reaching impact on financial markets or the overall economy." Goh Kun became acting president after Roh was unseated in a parliamentary vote on March 12.
"With fears about the impeachment impact fading, investors are shifting their eyes to those stocks that are likely to benefit ahead of April's earnings season," said Choi Yong-kyu, a fund manager at KEB Commerz Investment Trust Co.
Samsung Electronics, the world's biggest memories chip maker, climbed 2.02 percent to close at 555,000 won.
Shares in Anam Semiconductor Inc rocketed 10percent to close at 4,300 won after the company said in a filing to the stock exchange it was aiming for a 34.7 billion won net profit this year on sales of 426.2 billion won.
Anam posted a net loss of 96.6 billion won last year. LG Electronics followed suit, rising by 3.4percent to end at 66,900 won and flat screen maker Samsung SDI added 1.55 percent to 163,500 won.
But shares in Hynix Semiconductor Inc, the world's third-biggest maker of memory chips, succumbed to profit-taking after hitting a fresh 17-month intraday high in the session.
Hynix shares ended down 0.4 percent at 11,650 won. Top auto maker Hyundai Motor Co rose by 2.32percent to 52,900 won on hopes for better earnings after reports that the company was expected to reap robust profits thanks to booming demand from China.
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