Market rebounds as tensions subside
The benchmark index, the Kospi, ended the day at 2,334.22, up 14.51 points, or 0.63 percent, from the previous trading session. The Korean won rose 3.8 against the U.S. dollar to close at 1,139.70.
Institutional investors bought 354.5 billion won ($310.7 million) in shares, while foreign investors continued offloading for a fourth consecutive trading day, selling 251.1 billion won worth of stocks. Retail investors also offloaded 120.8 billion won in shares.
Seo Sang-young, an analyst at Kiwoom Securities, said the possibility of further tension between North Korea and the United States is limited, with media reports saying the two nations have taken up “engagement in back-channel diplomacy.”
Indeed, the Kospi appeared enjoy the fruits of bargain-hunting on Monday.
Overall, electronics did well. Samsung Electronics, the largest company by market cap, rose 0.85 percent to end at 2,250,000 won, and SK Hynix jumped 6.03 percent to 65,100 won. Samsung SDI, a battery manufacturer, rose 4.44 percent to 176,500 won.
Kakao, operator of the country’s most widely used messaging app, gained 2.73 percent to end at 113,000 won, and Naver, operator of Korea’s most popular search engine, shed 2.01 percent to end at 779,000 won.
Hyundai Motor, the country’s top automaker, gained 1.76 percent to close at 144,500 won, and its smaller affiliate Kia Motors rose 1.42 percent to 35,700 won.
The secondary Kosdaq index closed at 629.37, up 1.03 points, or 0.16 percent, from the previous trading day. It was also the first time in four days that it rebounded.
Pharmaceutical company Celltrion rose 0.67 percent to 104,700 won, while CJ E&M dropped 1.16 percent to 68,300 won.
The yields on three-year and 10-year government bonds remained unchanged at 1.80 percent and 2.30 percent, respectively.
BY KIM YOUNG-NAM, YONHAP [kim.youngnam@joongang.co.kr]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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