Kospi soars to record ahead of Q2 reports
The Kospi rose 0.94 points, or 0.04 percent from the previous day, to close at a peak of 2,426.04. Trade volume was the lowest since April at 255.64 million shares worth 4.6 trillion won ($4 billion), with losers outnumbering winners 414 to 387.
Institutional investors bought 122 billion won worth of stocks amid expectations that major companies like Samsung Electronics will come up with solid second-quarter earnings results starting next week. Retail investors followed with purchases of 59.1 billion won in shares, whereas foreign investors offloaded 214.1 billion won.
Large-cap stocks on the index were steady, while small- and mid-cap stocks both strengthened 0.2 percent.
Defensive stocks like utilities and cosmetics also supported the index. The Korea Electric Power Corporation climbed 0.59 percent to 42,650 won, and top cosmetics maker AmorePacific was up 1.54 percent to end the day at 296,000 won. Rival LG Household and Health Care added 0.96 percent to close at 945,000 won.
Among the losers were Korea’s leading automaker, Hyundai Motor, and its auto parts affiliate Hyundai Mobis, which each fell 1.66 percent and 0.2 percent to 148,000 won and 249,000 won.
The secondary Kosdaq index continued gains for four consecutive sessions, closing at 664.02, up 4.13 points, or 0.63 percent from Monday. IT and semiconductor companies contributed to the uplift.
The Korean won strengthened 0.5 percent to 1,123.1 against the U.S. dollar.
Bond prices, which move inversely to yields, closed higher. Three-year bond yields fell one basis point to 1.75 percent, and the return on the 10-year government bond shed two basis points to 2.26 percent.
BY SONG KYOUNG-SON, YONHAP [song.kyoungson@joongang.co.kr]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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