Seoul shares edged lower on Wednesday after five gaining sessions, with crude oil refiners dropping after recent rallies, but advances in builders like Daelim Industrial helped. The Korea Composite Stock Price Index finished down 0.07 percent at 2,012.18 points. The KOSPI 200 June futures index finished down 0.05 points at 267.0. The KOSPI 200 spot index fell 0.38 points to 265.67. The junior Kosdaq market ended up 0.47 percent at 510.17.
Shares in health and medical care related firms rallied after local media quoted a Samsung Electronics executive as saying the company may consider acquisitions in the sector. Shares in medical equipment makers Infinitt Health and Infopia jumped 14.9 percent and 6.7 percent respectively. Shares in Shinhan Financial Group fell 1 percent and Hana Financial Group declined 1.9 percent. Shares in Daelim Industrial ended up 3.9 percent and GS Construction rose 5.3 percent. The construction sub-idex ended up 2.5 percent. The world's No 2 memory chip maker Hynix Semiconductor rose 4.3 percent after key DRAM chip contract prices rose in the 3 percent range, according to data from DRAMeXchange, an industry tracker.