Stocks follow Wall Street higher on tech stock rebound

Home > Business > Finance

Stocks follow Wall Street higher on tech stock rebound

Published: 10 Sep. 2020, 18:13

A screen shows the closing stats for the Kospi in a trading room at Hana Bank in Jung District, central Seoul, Thursday. [YONHAP]

Stocks closed higher Thursday following an overnight rebound on Wall Street. The won rose against the dollar.

The benchmark Kospi rose 20.67 points, or 0.87 percent, to close at 2,396.48.

Trading volume was moderate at about 1.1 billion shares worth some 15.6 trillion won ($13.2 billion), with gainers outnumbering losers 596 to 232.

Foreigners bought a net 381 billion won, ending their four-day selling streak, and retail investors purchased a net 67 billion won. Institutions offloaded a net 473 billion won.

"The tech rebound in the United States seems to have given an upward push to the local stock market," Daeshin Securities analyst Lee Kyung-min said.

Since the week's start, valuation concerns about tech shares have roiled the financial markets at home and in major economies.

Most large caps closed higher.

Samsung Electronics added 1.37 percent to 59,200 won, but chipmaker SK hynix shed 0.91 percent to 76,600 won. LG Electronics added 3.33 percent to 93,200 won.

Amorepacific lost 0.6 percent to 166,000 won, and Korean Air gained 0.82 percent to 18,550 won.

Pharmaceutical firm Samsung Biologics gained 0.66 percent to 764,000 won, while Celltrion closed flat at 298,500 won.

Naver added 0.99 percent to 307,500 won, while Kakao, the operator of KakaoTalk, added 0.39 percent to 385,500 won.

Leading online game maker NCSoft spiked 4.93 percent to 830,000 won, while Netmarble shed 1.06 percent to 187,000 won.

Chemical maker LG Chem advanced 2 percent to 713,000 won, and rechargeable battery maker Samsung SDI edged up 0.12 percent to 430,000 won.

Hyundai Motor, the country's largest automaker, rose 0.9 percent to 169,000 won, while Kia Motors added 0.12 percent to 42,150 won. Posco added 0.27 percent to 185,500 won.

The secondary Kosdaq added 14.83 points, or 1.71 percent, to close at 884.30.

The local currency closed at 1,184.9 won per dollar, down 4.2 won from the previous session's close.

Bond prices, which move inversely to yields, closed mixed. The yield on three-year bonds lost 0.1 basis points to 0.916 percent, and the yield on the benchmark five-year government bond added 2.7 basis points to 0.7 percent.

BY CHEA SARAH, YONHAP [[email protected]]