Seoul shares rise over 1% on strong Samsung Electronics
An electronic board showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index at a dealing room of the Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul on Monday. (Yonhap)
South Korean stocks rose more than 1 percent to hit a two-week high Monday led by a sharp rebound in top-cap Samsung Electronics shares. The Korean won gained against the US dollar.
The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index rose 29.16 points, or 1.13 percent, to 2,612.43, marking the highest closing price since Oct. 15 when the bourse finished at 2,633.45.
Trade volume was slim at 327.6 million shares worth 9 trillion won ($6.5 billion), with winners outnumbering losers 615 to 271.
Institutions bought a net 426.4 billion won worth of stocks, while foreigners and individuals dumped a net 130.8 billion won and 331 billion won, respectively.
Samsung Electronics, the biggest share on the Kospi in terms of market capitalization, jumped 3.94 percent to 58,100 won. The world's largest memory chipmaker has been on a steady decline led by foreign selling amid poorer-than-expected earnings results.
But its chipmaking rival SK hynix fell 2.49 percent to 196,000 won and Hanmi Semiconductor, a chip equipment provider, dropped 2.35 percent to 95,500 won.
EV battery makers were among the big winners on Tesla's robust sales report last week. Industry leader LG Energy Solution rose 2.33 percent to 416,500 won and POSCO Future M soared 7.05 percent to 243,000 won.
Korea Zinc mounted 3.83 percent to 1.3 million won after the company announced that it has secured an 11.26 percent stake in a buyback offer aimed at defending its management control against a coalition of its largest shareholder, Young Poong Corp., and MBK Partners.
Flagship air carrier Korean Air rose 1.72 percent to 23,700 won and leading online portal operator Naver climbed 1.55 percent to 170,400 won.
Bank shares closed in negative territory, with KB Financial Group sinking 4.75 percent to 96,200 won and Woori Financial Group tumbling 5.97 percent to 16,060 won.
The Korean won was trading at 1,385 won against the greenback at 3:30 p.m., up 3.7 won from the previous session, rebounding from a near four-month low on Friday.
