Seoul shares closed more than 2 percent higher on Wednesday, led by technology and brokerage shares, as upbeat comments on the US economy by the chairman of the Federal Reserve sparked a broad-based market rally.
The main stock index ended 2.21 percent higher at 753.32 points with foreign investors net buyers for a fourth consecutive day.
Most blue chips were higher, with market leader Samsung Electronics Co Ltd up 3 percent to 429,500 won and top lender Kookmin Bank up 4.1 percent to 33,300 won.
However, Rhoo Yong-seok, an analyst at Hyundai Securities Co, said it was too soon to call a sustained bounce.
"I don't want to put too much weight on today's technical rebound because we still have economic uncertainty and high oil prices which will probably last for a while," said Rhoo.
A government survey showed on Wednesday Korean manufacturers turned less optimistic about business conditions for the third quarter of 2004.
The broad-based market rally followed a climb on Wall Street after Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan said on Tuesday economic growth remained solid and inflation did not pose a major threat.
A sub-index of brokerages jumped 5.6 percent, with Samsung Securities Co up 11.6 percent to 17,750 won and SK Securities Co up 6.6 percent to 485 won.
Shares in Samsung SDI, which sells flat screens for TVs and handsets to its affiliate Samsung Electronics, jumped 6.5 percent to 115,000 won after the company reported a record quarterly net profit of 243.5 billion won for the second quarter, more than double the 113.7 billion a year ago.
Hynix Semiconductor Inc, the world's third-largest memory chip maker, added 1.4 percent to 10,900 won, while shares in top home appliances maker LG Electronics were up 2.8 to 51,600 won.
Trading volume totalled 421 million shares worth 1.73 trillion won, compared with 331 million shares worth 1.45 trillion won in the previous session.
Advancers outpaced decliners by 489 to 220 with 80 issues unchanged.
Foreign investors bought a net 132 billion won worth of local shares on the main stock market, while institutional investors purchased a net 163 billion won. Individuals were net sellers.
The junior Kosdaq was up 1.32 percent at 358.94.
The September KOSPI 200 futures index rose 2.4 points to 97.00 and the underlying KOSPI 200 spot index moved up 2.22 points to 97.51.