Kospi closes week with yet another record high
Stock markets had a positive day in the last session of the week as the Kospi reached a record 1567.74, up 7.88 points, or 0.5 percent. Institutional buyers led the market pulling up machinery and shipyard shares, analysts said.“Ship builders already have contracts for this year,” said Han Yo-seob, an analyst at Daewoo Securities. “Relatively lower priced ships are almost finished and more high value added ships are to be exported further on. Shipyard and machinery shares will have hey-days for the time being.” Han said that after a certain rest, the financials will also climb.
Machinery shares were the biggest gainers. Doosan Heavy Industries, the top power generator producer, went up 9.6 percent, on news of its winning a 473-billion-won ($509 million) order from Dubai to build a power plant. Smaller Hanjin Heavy also jumped 4.9 percent.
Shipyards gained ground on improvements in first-quarter earnings throughout the industry sector. Hyundai Heavy Industries added 3.8 percent, and Samsung Heavy Industries rose 1.4 percent.
Financials had a weaker performance. Kookmin Bank, the largest lender, lost almost 1 percent. The nation’s second biggest financial services company, Shinhan Financial Group, fell 1.9 percent, although it had its largest quarterly earnings ever in the first three months of this year.
Hanwha Corp. rose 5.6 percent after Samsung Securities recommended the share. Hanwha had fallen 8 percent since it was uncovered the company’s head had been engaged in a beating incident.
Volume was moderate at 248.9 million shares worth 3.8 trillion won, with winners outpacing losers 474 to 280.
The junior Kosdaq closed the week up 6.91 points, or 1 percent, at 693.44. More than 557 million shares worth 1.8 trillion won changed hands. Gainers outnumbered losers 585 to 321.
By Hwang Young-jin Staff Writer [yhwang@joongang.co.kr]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
To write comments, please log in to one of the accounts.
Standards Board Policy (0/250자)