Wall Street gains continue to push Kospi up
The benchmark Kospi added 18.01 points, or 0.72 percent, to 2,521.74.
Trade volume was light at 337 million shares worth 4.7 trillion won ($4.2 billion), with losers outnumbering gainers 422 to 381.
Foreigners scooped up stocks worth 280.7 billion won, outpacing institutional and retail investors that each offloaded 36.6 billion won and 280.1 billion won.
The broad index opened higher, taking a cue from overnight gains on Wall Street. On Monday (local time), U.S. stocks surged to close at record highs on a strong corporate earnings season. The Dow Jones increased 0.89 percent, and the S&P 500 rose 0.67 percent, with the Nasdaq Composite Index adding 0.68 percent.
On Tuesday, the tech-heavy Kosdaq also rose 9.62 percent to end at 901.23 points on a sharp surge in leading bio and medicine shares.
This is the first time in 16 years that the Kosdaq has reached the 900 mark, with the market being helped by last week’s government announcement of tax incentives and eased listing rules.
“There is a possibility of profit-taking of major bio shares ahead of earnings announcements by major firms,” said Seo Sang-young, an analyst at Kiwoom Securities.
Most large-cap stocks had a mixed day of trading, with tech shares leading the gains.
Samsung Electronics ended at 2,500,000 won, up 3.01 percent from the previous session’s close to continue a two-day winning streak. SK Hynix also increased 2.34 percent to 74,400 won. Flat panel maker LG Display jumped 6.9 percent to 31,000 won.
Auto stocks also closed high, with leading automaker Hyundai Motor adding 1.94 percent to 158,000 won and its sister company, Kia Motors, moving up 1.87 percent to 32,650 won.
Shares of bio companies lost ground, with Samsung BioLogics, a biopharmaceutical affiliate of Samsung Group, shedding 1.31 percent to end at 414,000 won.
The local currency closed at 1,062.7 won against the U.S. dollar, unchanged from Monday’s close.
Bond prices ended on a mixed note. The yield on three-year government bonds remained the same as Monday at 2.23 percent, and the return on 10-year government bonds lost two basis points to 2.64 percent.
BY SONG KYOUNG-SON, YONHAP [song.kyoungson@joongang.co.kr]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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