Seoul shares rise over 2% on strong Samsung buying

South Korean stocks jumped more than 2 percent Monday as investors scooped up Samsung Electronics' shares on the chip giant's massive buyback plan. The Korean won rose against the US dollar.

The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (Kospi) gained 52.21 points, or 2.16 percent, to close at 2,469.07.

It marked the largest daily gain since Sept. 26, when the Kospi jumped 2.9 percent

Trade volume was moderate at 431.2 million shares worth 10.4 trillion won (US$7.5 billion), with gainers outpacing losers 614 to 282.

Institutions and individuals purchased a net 3 billion won and 5.5 billion won, respectively, while offshore investors dumped a net 72.8 billion won.

Top-cap Samsung Electronics soared 5.98 percent to 56,700 won as the world's largest memory chipmaker announced Friday a plan to buy back its shares worth 10 trillion won in total to boost its value.

Due to poor-than-expected earnings and escalating uncertainties, shares of Samsung Electronics have experienced heavy losses in recent months, hitting 49,900 won Thursday, the lowest since June 2020.

Top carmaker Hyundai Motor vaulted 5.34 percent to 217,000, and its sister Kia jumped 5.57 percent to 96,700 won.

Energy shares were also strong as No. 1 refinery SK Innovation rose 6.04 percent to 101,900 won and the state-run Korea Gas Corp. increased 4.08 percent to 42,100 won.

Leading non-life insurer Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance surged 10.48 percent to 369,000 won, and F&B giant Nongshim rose 3.99 percent to 339,000 won.

On the other hand, chipmaker SK hynix fell 3.65 percent to 171,700 won on news that Nvidia's new artificial intelligence chip could be delayed due to overheating issues. SK hynix is the dominant supplier of high bandwidth memory chips to Nvidia.

The local currency had been trading at 1,395.2 won against the greenback as of 3:30 p.m., up 3.6 won from the previous session. (Yonhap)