Kospi hits its 28th all-time high this year
This was the 28th time this year the Kospi broke a record.
The bullish rally on Friday was largely based on improved investment sentiment and net buying by foreign investors amounting to over 201 billion won ($177.7 million) while institution and retail investors net sold.
Foreign investors’ purchases were concentrated in IT shares. Foreign investors net bought 77.2 billion won worth of shares from the electric and electronics sector while logistics and equipment came in second with 29.7 billion won and finance shares third with 25.2 billion won.
Thanks to foreign investors, market bellwether Samsung Electronics turned around for the first time in three trading days to rise 1.6 percent and close at 2,692,000 won. The company’s shares have been falling since reaching a record high of 2,740,000 won on Oct. 12.
SK Hynix, which is second on the main bourse in terms of market capitalization, rose for the first time in seven trading days. The computer chip manufacturer saw its shares rise 2.8 percent to close at 81,200 won.
Other tech companies’ shares went up as well including LG Display, which rose 4.81 percent to close at 30,500 won.
Hyundai Motor, whose sales in China were reported on Thursday to have fallen, remained unchanged while Posco retreated 0.88 percent to 337,000 won.
Market experts are speculating that the current positive sentiment will continue especially since uncertainties that have held back investment sentiments have eased.
They include more signals by Korean central bank governor Lee Ju-yeol that the key interest rate will be hiked soon after the economic outlook for this year was raised from 2.8 percent in July to 3 percent.
Moves in the U.S. toward tax reform were seen as a positive factor.
The local currency closed at 1,131.00 won against the U.S. dollar, up 1.4 won from the previous session’s close. Bond prices, which move inversely to yields, closed lower. The yield on three-year Treasuries rose 8.2 basis points to 2.088 percent and the return on the benchmark five-year government bonds gained 8.9 basis points to 2.299 percent.
BY LEE HO-JEONG, YONHAP [lee.hojeong@joongang.co.kr]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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