Seoul shares ended firm on Tuesday propelled by firm gains in technology and retail issues including Samsung Electronics and Lotte Shopping, while KOGAS rallied on natural gas development hopes. The Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) finished up 0.87 percent at 1,690.05 points.
"Shares are taking a breather as the quarterly results season approaches - third quarter numbers will probably come out fairly strong, but there are concerns about the fourth quarter, as the rate at which economies and corporate earnings pick up is expected to slow a bit," said Won Jong-hyuck, a market analyst at SK Securities.
Won added that he expected the market to trade within a limited range, with the peak likely at about 1,750 points, close to the year's earlier high of 1,723 points. Retail issues rallied amid expectations about their sales ahead of South Korea's Thanksgiving holiday starting this week.
"Investors seem to be betting on holiday sales gains, although discount retailers are still struggling," said Yu Ju-yeon, adding however that for the remainder of this year they would post firm earnings growth compared with last year's weak numbers. Lotte Shopping Co Ltd rose 4.67 percent and Hyundai Department Store advanced 8.65 percent. Shinsegae Co Ltd gained 4.8 percent.
Korea Gas Corp rallied 5.11 percent after a local media report that the world's biggest corporate buyer of liquefied natural gas (LNG) was considering investing in a gas field in Siberia.KOGAS declined to comment on the report. The Maeil Business Newspaper said the Siberian gas field was estimated to hold about 90 percent of Russia's natural gas reserves.
KOGAS also planned to double its capital to 8 trillion won ($6.74 billion) by 2012, and is seeking to issue new shares worth 2 trillion won, according to local media reports after the market close. Technology also boosted markets, with memory chip makers lifted by gains in key DRAM spot prices and rises in the US semiconductor index overnight. According to chip price tracker DRAMeXchange, key DRAM spot prices rose in a range of 1 to 2 percent overnight.
Samsung Electronics, the world's No 1 memory chip maker, rose 2.01 percent and Hynix, the world's No 2, advanced 2.89 percent. Korea Exchange Bank jumped 5.75 percent after the leading creditor of Hyundai Corp said on Tuesday that Hyundai Heavy Industries was picked on Tuesday to buy a controlling stake in the South Korean trading firm. Institutions picked up a net 177.8 billion won worth of shares and foreign investors offloaded a net 129.3 billion won.
Retail investors sold a net 39.15 billion won worth of shares. Advancers led decliners 455 to 328, with 85 counters ending flat. A total of 339.4 million shares worth 6.66 trillion won changed hands, compared with 346.3 million shares worth 6.5 trillion won traded on Monday. The KOSPI 200 December futures index rose 2.30 points to 222.20, while the KOSPI 200 spot index ended up 1.93 points at 221.59. The junior Kosdaq market ended up 0.12 percent at 512.20 points.