Seoul shares edged lower on Monday amid year-end thin volume and weighed down by a surprise decision by China's central bank to raise interest rates on Christmas day, a move that hurt automakers including Hyundai Motor. The Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) ended down 0.37 percent at 2,022.19 points. The KOSPI 200 March futures index fell 0.15 points to 267.00. The KOSPI 200 spot index went up 1.15 points to 267.35. The junior Kosdaq market lost 0.59 percent to 496.68.
News of the Chinese rate hike weighed on market sentiment a bit, but the scale of hike is not big and therefore did not come as a significant setback to the market, according to Kim Seong-bong, a market analyst at Samsung Securities. Foreign investors were buyers of around 161 billion won ($139.8 million) worth of stocks, picking up shares for a fourth consecutive session.
Monday's trading volume and turnover, at 269 million shares worth 5 trillion won, were notably lower than the November daily average of 346.6 million shares worth 6.7 trillion won. Banking stocks outperformed on hopes the battered issues may outperform next year. Shares of KB Financial Group were up 1.7 percent, but are still down 2 percent on the year. Shares of Woori Finance Holdings rose 2 percent, after shedding about 1 percent so far this year.
Shares of Hyundai Elevator, one of the key units of Hyundai Group, rallied after Schindler Deutschland, in which Schindler Holding AG is the major shareholder, said it has expanded its stake in the firm to 35.27 percent from previous 33.40 percent. Shares in Hyundai Elevator, which tend to be volatile, soared 14.4 percent.
Shares of Hyundai Motor, the country's top automaker, shed 3.4 percent and Kia Motors fell 3.5 percent. Heavy machinery stocks, such as Doosan Infracore, tumbled 4.6 percent on news of the Chinese interest rate hike which pointed to less robust activity in the country's construction sector. China is a major export destination for Doosan Infracore, which sells its excavators to the country. A 1.2 percent fall in Baltic Dry Index, which tracks the cost of shipping key commodities, weighed on shipping firms. Shares of Hanjin Shipping lost 4.5 percent and Hyundai Merchant Marine fell 2.2 percent.