Heavy foreign buying pushed Seoul shares to their third record high in four sessions on Wednesday, with exporters such as Samsung Electronics gaining on solid US earnings and on the prospect of an end to US interest rate increases.
A rally in exporter stocks this month has underpinned the benchmark KOSPI despite higher oil prices and a stronger local currency, as investors seem convinced earnings will recover in the second half.
The Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) hit a record 1,450.93 before paring some of its gains. It ended up 0.76 percent at 1,437.84 points.
The KOSPI went from Asia's best-performing major index in 2005, when it surged 54 percent, to its worst in the first quarter of 2006 amid a rally in global markets, when a 1.4 percent fall made it the only index in the region to post a loss. But the KOSPI has since turned around to rise 4.2 percent as of this month, with a 5.7 percent jump in April alone.
Foreign investors have been the biggest purchasers of shares, buying a net of around 3.8 trillion won ($4.01 billion) so far this year, with 2 trillion won coming in April alone, after selling a net of around 3 trillion won last year.
Samsung Electronics Co Ltd, the world's biggest maker of memory chips, rose 1.53 percent to 665,000 won, after earlier rising as much as 3.1 percent. SK Corp, South Korea's biggest oil refiner, rose 2.66 percent to 73,200 won.
Samsung Securities Co, the country's most valuable brokerage, rose 1.19 percent to 59,700 won.
Trade volume reached 406 million shares worth 5.3 trillion won, data at 0625 GMT showed, compared to 321.9 million shares worth 3.8 trillion won on Tuesday. Gainers edged out decliners by 383 to 370 with 70 titles ending flat.
Retail investors sold a net 227.2 billion won, while institutional investors sold a net 96.6 billion won. The June KOSPI 200 futures index rose two points to 187.75, while the underlying KOSPI 200 spot index added 1.44 points to 186.34.
South Korea's junior and tech-heavy Kosdaq market fell 0.14 percent to finish at 701.85.
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