Foreign investors push Seoul shares up
The benchmark Kospi closed at 2,427.63, up 4.67 points, or 0.19 percent, from the previous trading day.
Foreign investors reversed a seven-day selling streak and bought 134.7 billion won ($119.9 million) in shares and retail investors bought 5.3 billion won worth. Institutional investors offloaded 159.7 billion won in shares.
On Tuesday, the U.S. Dow Jones industrial average climbed 0.33 percent toward a fresh record, the S&P rose 0.24 percent and the Nasdaq Composite Index also gained 0.23 percent, buoyed by Apple Inc.’s strong earnings.
Most large caps closed mixed on the Seoul bourse, with tech and telecom shares leading the gain.
Top cap Samsung Electronics ended at 2,245,000 won, up 0.82 percent from the previous session’s close. Smaller rival LG Electronics gained 0.15 percent to 68,400 won and global chipmaker SK Hynix jumped 0.82 percent to 68,000 won.
Mobile carriers also closed higher, with No. 1 player SK Telecom adding 2.16 percent to 283,500 won and the second-largest KT inching up 0.71 percent to 35,400 won. LG Uplus, the smallest in the country, moved up 3.05 percent to 16,900 won.
Meanwhile, stocks of Kakao, the operator of Korea’s dominant messaging app KakaoTalk, fell 2.97 percent to end at 114,500 won after gaining over 18 percent in the past three sessions on the back of the popularity of Kakao Bank.
Auto shares closed lower, with leading automaker Hyundai Motor losing 0.11 percent to 163,000 won and its sister company, Kia Motors, shedding 0.26 percent to 39,050 won. Hyundai Mobis lost 2.31 percent to 274,500 won.
The local currency closed at 1,124 won against the U.S. dollar, down 2.7 won from Tuesday’s close.
BY KIM YOUNG-NAM, YONHAP [kim.youngnam@joongang.co.kr]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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