SEOUL: Round-up of South Korean financial markets:

South Korean shares gained more than 1% on Monday, as the country’s finance minister expressed a strong will to continue to push for corporate reform measures, dubbed the “Corporate Value-up Programme.”

The benchmark KOSPI closed up 37.58 points, or 1.45%, at 2,629.44.

Finance Minister Choi Sang-mok said the government’s major tasks, namely the reform plan, would proceed in a consistent manner.

His comments came amid growing doubts among investors that the government’s efforts for corporate reforms, notably tax cuts, might be pushed back by the opposition-dominant parliament.

“Although legislative changes won’t be easy, his comments confirmed the government’s clear will,” said Huh Jae-hwan, an analyst at Eugene Investment Securities.

South Korea’s exports for the first 20 days of April rose 11.1% from a year before, data showed.

Auto and financial stocks, which are considered undervalued and deemed to have the biggest upside potential under the government’s reform push, rallied, offsetting losses in heavyweight chipmakers.

Hyundai Motor and sister automaker Kia Corp each gained 4.26%. The Finance-major Index and the Securities-minor Index rose 5.20% and 4.14%, respectively.

Chipmaker Samsung Electronics fell 1.93% and peer SK Hynix lost 0.98%, after the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index’s 4.1% drop on Friday.

Of the total 932 traded issues, 662 shares advanced, while 228 declined.

Foreigners were net sellers of shares worth 780.4 billion won ($565.77 million) on the main board.

The won ended onshore trade at 1,379.2 per dollar, 0.22% higher than its previous close at 1,382.2.

In money and debt markets, June futures on three-year treasury bonds fell 0.10 point to 104.08.

The most liquid three-year Korean treasury bond yield rose by 4.0 basis points to 3.509%, while the benchmark 10-year yield rose by 6.1 basis points to 3.645%.

South Korean shares end lower on caution ahead of elections, US data