Seoul shares ended up 1.3 percent on Wednesday, fuelled by firm gains in crude oil refiners and autos such as S-Oil and Hyundai Motor, but persistent European debt concerns limited gains. The Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) ended up 1.3 percent at 1,929.32 points.
Crude refiners rallied, with shares in SK Energy, the country's top crude oil refiner, up 4.23 percent and GS Holdings, the holding firm of the country's No 2 refiner GS Caltex, gaining 7.31 percent. Shares in Kia Motors advanced 3.17 percent after it reported more than a 30 percent jump in November car sales from a year before. Hyundai Motor ended up 3.77 percent.
South Korea's top automaker reported monthly sales numbers that were nearly flat compared to a year before. Retailers advanced on the back of their strong November department store sales. Lotte Department Store saw an 8.7 percent year-on-year rise in same store sales, and Shinsegae 17 percent. Shares in Hynix Semiconductor, the world's No 2 memory chip maker, fell 0.43 percent, and Samsung Electronics, the world's No 1, shed 0.73 percent. The KOSPI 200 December futures index rose 2.55 points to 253.20. The KOSPI 200 spot index gained 3.16 points to 252.80.
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