Seoul shares rose on Friday on improving sentiment and substantial foreign buying, with firm gains in technology stocks like Samsung Electronics helping the market. The Korea Composite Stock Price Index ended up 1.19 percent at 2,125.74 points. "These are more than technical gains. Sentiment has visibly improved and robust foreign and institutional buying comes as a testament to how strong the market is," said Lee Kyoung-soo, a market analyst at Shinyoung Securities.
Foreign investors were buyers of a net 167.6 billion won ($157.1 million) worth of stocks, purchasing shares for a third straight session. Institutions were buyers of a net 372.2 billion won, picking up shares for a tenth straight session. Shares in Kia Motors ended up 2.4 percent after the company said its sales last month jumped nearly 22 percent from a year before period. Shares in Hyundai Motor rose 1.5 percent after the company said its June sales rose 12.3 percent year-on-year.
Crude oil refiners rallied after South Korea's second-largest refiner GS Caltex said late on Thursday it would gradually increase prices of gasoline and diesel after a three-month price cut expires in early July. The country's largest refiner SK Energy, fully owned by SK Innovation and No 3 S-Oil may follow, spokesmen for the companies said. Shares in S-Oil rose 2.6 percent and SK Innovation climbed 3.7 percent. GS Holdings, the holding company for GS Caltex, advanced 2.9 percent.
Technology stocks advanced, with memory chip makers seeing solid gains after the US Philadelphia index climbed 2.5 percent. Shares in Samsung Electronics , the world's No 1 memory chip maker, rose 3.5 percent and Hynix Semiconductor climbed 6.6 percent. The world's No 3 handset maker LG Electronics ended up 2.4 percent and LG Display gained 4.1 percent. KOSPI 200 September futures ended up 3.8 points at 280.40 points and the KOSPI 200 spot index rose 3.6 points to 278.77. The junior Kosdaq market ended up 0.95 percent at 484.11.