Seoul shares rose on Wednesday despite concerns about Japan's nuclear crisis, as bargain hunting lifted technology plays and battered transport issues such as Samsung Electronics and Korean Air Line. The Korea Composite Stock Price Index finished up 1.77 percent at 1,957.97 points. The KOSPI 200 June futures index finished up 5.4 points at 260.30.
The KOSPI 200 spot index rose 5.15 points to 259.44. The junior Kosdaq market ended up 0.6 percent at 492.36. Foreign investors were buyers of a net 383 million won ($337,900) worth of stocks on the Seoul bourse, after offloading shares in the previous session. Institutions purchased a net 160.5 billion won.
Major blue chips posted robust rebounds, with memory chip makers advancing on the back of strength in chip prices. Spot prices of NAND-type flash memory chips used in mobile devices rose nearly 3 percent on Tuesday amid supply concerns, according to price tracker DRAMeXchange late on Tuesday.
Shares in Samsung Electronics, the world's No 1 memory chip maker, rose 3 percent and Hynix Semiconductor, the world's second-biggest, climbed 1.7 percent. Airlines and tour issues also recovered. Korean Air Line rose 3.9 percent after seeing a 20.8 percent fall in the past month, and Hana Tour rose 2.9 percent following a 20.7 percent loss over the same period.