South Korean stocks close higher, tracking Wall Street’s overnight rally
- The blue-chip KOSPI closed up 3.46 points
SEOUL: Round-up of South Korean financial markets:
South Korean shares flat on first trading day of 2025 amid mixed data
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South Korean shares edged up on Tuesday, tracking Wall Street’s overnight gains, while chip stocks eased on some profit-taking. The won strengthened, while the benchmark bond yield fell.
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The blue-chip KOSPI closed up 3.46 points, or 0.14%, at 2,492.10.
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Among index heavyweights, chipmaker Samsung Electronics fell 0.89% and peer SK Hynix lost 2.40%. Battery maker LG Energy Solution climbed 1.11%.
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On Wall Street, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite hit more than one-week highs overnight. Nvidia surged 3.43%.
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Expectations about the upcoming Consumer Electronics Show (CES) and Microsoft’s data centre investment lifted investor sentiment especially as US equities closed higher but some profit taking was seen in the afternoon, said Na Jeong-hwan, an analyst at NH Investment and Securities.
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Last week, Microsoft said it was planning to invest about $80 billion in fiscal 2025 on developing data centres to train artificial intelligence (AI) models and deploy AI and cloud-based applications.
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Hyundai shed 0.24% and sister automaker Kia lost 1.39%. Search engine Naver and instant messenger Kakao shed 0.24% and 1.28%, respectively.
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Of the total 943 traded issues, 446 advanced and 428 declined.
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Foreigners net bought shares worth 157.4 billion won ($108 million) on the main board on Tuesday.
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The won was quoted at 1,453.5 per US dollar on the onshore settlement platform, 0.45% higher than its previous close at 1,460.0.
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The KOSPI has risen 3.86% so far this year, gaining 0.3% in the last 30 sessions.
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The won has gained 1.3% against the dollar year-to-date.
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In money and debt markets, March futures on three-year treasury bonds rose 0.10 point to 106.88.
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The most liquid three-year Korean treasury bond yield rose by 1.5 basis points to 2.504%, while the benchmark 10-year yield fell by 3.7 basis points to 2.791%.
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