Kospi crawls up as won recovers slightly
Seoul’s main stock market climbed 0.7 percent yesterday as the won’s value rebounded against the dollar. The benchmark Kospi closed at 1,025.57, up 6.76 points.The market started weak on concerns about another financial crisis, after AIG said overnight its fourth-quarter loss had widened to $61.7 billion from $5.29 billion a year earlier. The Kospi tumbled below 1,000 at one point.
But program-based buying by institutional investors and improvement in investor sentiment after the local currency’s rebound pulled the market up.
The won strengthened to close at 1,552.40 won per dollar yesterday.
Trade volume on the Seoul stock market was heavy at 531.1 million shares worth 3.5 trillion won ($2.3 billion), but losers outnumbered gainers 548 to 275.
Shipbuilders jumped, with the world’s largest shipyard, Hyundai Heavy Industries, rising 3.6 percent. Samsung Heavy Industries also gained 2.9 percent, and Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering added 1.4 percent.
On the other hand, banking shares lost ground due to sustained global financial jitters.
Shinhan Financial Group, which controls No. 2 lender Shinhan Bank, lost 2.3 percent. Hana Finance Holdings, which owns the fourth-largest lender, Hana Bank, also shed 2.3 percent.
Dongkuk Steel Mill retreated 5.2 percent to its lowest close in three months. The nation’s third-biggest steelmaker slashed ship-plate prices by 21 percent, the second reduction this year, because of the global economic recession, the company said in a statement yesterday. The mill, which gets more than half its sales from plates, already reduced prices by as much as 18 percent in January.
Hanwha Chemical plunged 7.5 percent, after saying it will spend 60 billion won to buy new shares in a subsidiary.
Hanwha Chemical will inject cash into Hanwha L&C, a wholly owned unit, on Friday, the parent said on Monday in a regulatory filing after the market closed.
Hanwha Chemical’s investment is “negative” as it reduces its corporate value, Korea Investment and Securities Co. said in a note yesterday.
Yonhap, Bloomberg
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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