Seoul shares eked out 0.3 percent gain on Tuesday, with KT Corp and Samsung Fine Chemical underpinning the market, but technology and banking issues declined amid investor caution before the G20 meeting in Seoul. The Korea Composite Stock Price Index ended up 5.05 points at 1,947.46 points. Its 20-day relative strength index, at around 66, indicates it is nearing overbought territory at 70.
"The market's gains were in a limited range as investors were reluctant to make big moves before the G20 meeting and ahead of some key Chinese data later this week," said Lee Jae-mahn, a market analyst at Tong Yang Securities. Shares in Samsung Fine Chemical jumped 8.6 percent after the company said it was considering building a polysilicon plant in Korea with US firm MEMC Electronic Materials as the group seeks to expand into solar cell business.
Samsung Electronics Co Ltd, the world's No 1 memory chip maker, ended down 0.5 percent. Hynix Semiconductor Inc, the world's No 2, dipped 1.5 percent dented by fall in the US Philadelphia semiconductor index. The KOSPI 200 December futures index rose 0.35 points to 252.70. The KOSPI 200 spot index gained 0.34 points to 252.07. The junior Kosdaq market shed 0.29 percent to 526.93.