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Stocks trade higher as China shares perform well

A screen at Hana Bank's trading room in central Seoul shows the Kospi closing at 3,082.99 points on Wednesday, up 39.12 points, or 1.29 percent, from the previous trading day. [NEWS1]

Stocks finished higher Wednesday on strong institutional buying amid mixed prospects of a post-pandemic recovery. The won rose against the dollar.

The benchmark Kospi rose 39.12 points, or 1.29 percent, to close at 3,082.99 points.

Trading volume was moderate at about 2.2 billion shares worth some 13.9 trillion won ($12.4 billion), with gainers outnumbering losers 655 to 206.

Institutions bought a net 691 billion won, while foreigners offloaded a net 20 billion won and retail investors sold 655 billion won.

Trading started choppy, tracking overnight losses on Wall Street that came largely on comments by Chinese banking regulator Guo Shuqing, who warned of "bubble risks" in global markets.

Gains accelerated in the afternoon, led by strong gains by steel and tech stocks.

"Local stocks dipped at first after the overnight loss on Wall Street but managed to climb back on strong Chinese stock gains," Kiwoom Securities analyst Seo Sang-young said.

"Investors' optimism seems to have increased [after Guo's soothing comment] that [Chinese] regulations would not be so strong as to hinder the economy," he said.

Most large caps closed higher in Seoul.

Samsung Electronics advanced 0.48 percent to 84,000 won, and chipmaker SK hynix gained 1.73 percent to 147,000 won.

Giant internet portal operator Naver surged 5.83 percent to 399,500 won, and its rival Kakao edged up 0.41 percent to 493,500 won.

Online game maker NCSoft increased 1.69 percent to 962,000 won, while its rival Netmarble rose 2.43 percent to 126,500 won.

Pharmaceutical giant Samsung Biologics climbed 1.06 percent to 761,000 won, and Celltrion jumped 3.95 percent to 303,000 won.

Chemical firm LG Chem shed 2.36 percent to 870,000 won, while the country’s largest automaker Hyundai Motor added 0.42 percent to 240,000 won.

Steelmaker Posco jumped 4.91 percent to 299,000 won.

The Koadaq rose 7.63 points, or 0.83 percent to close at 930.80.

The local currency closed at 1,120.3 won against the dollar, down 3.7 won from the previous session's close.

Bond prices, which move inversely to yields, closed higher. The yield on the three-year bond lost 0.3 basis points to close at 1.018 percent, and the yield on the 10-year bond declined 2.1 basis points to close at 1.4 percent.

BY CHEA SARAH, YONHAP [chea.sarah@joongang.co.kr]