Seoul stocks rebound on reduced fears of a Fed rate hike

A screen in Hana Bank's trading room in central Seoul shows the Kospi closing at 3,066.01 points on Thursday, up 18.51 points, or 0.61 percent from the previous trading day. [NEWS1]

Stocks rebounded Thursday on strong foreign buying, following the U.S. Federal Reserve's reiteration that rates will remain at near zero through 2023. The won rose against the dollar.

The benchmark Kospi gained 18.51 points, or 0.61 percent, to close at 3,066.01.

Trading volume was moderate at about 1.2 billion shares worth some 14.8 trillion won ($13.2 billion), with gainers outnumbering losers 503 to 329.

Foreigners bought a net 483 billion won, while retail investors sold a net 656 billion won. Institutions purchased a net 189 billion won.

The Kospi rose as high as to 3,090.19 points, largely as the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) partially soothed market concerns over rate hikes.

"Stocks came to a strong start as FOMC meeting results eased the investor concerns, but erased some of those gains on institutional selling," HI Investment & Securities analyst Park Sang-hyun said.

Auto and tech stocks performed well in Seoul, while insurance and energy slumped.

Samsung Electronics advanced 0.73 percent to 82,900 won, and chipmaker SK hynix gained 1.43 percent to 142,000 won.

Giant internet portal operator Naver surged 5.22 percent to 403,500 won, and its rival Kakao increased 2.68 percent to 498,000 won.

Online game maker NCSoft fell 0.11 percent to 939,000 won, while its rival Netmarble edged down 0.81 percent to 122,500 won.

Pharmaceutical giant Samsung Biologics moved up 0.42 percent to 722,000 won, but Celltrion lost 0.51 percent to 292,000 won.

Chemical firm LG Chem added 0.47 percent to 861,000 won, and rechargeable battery maker Samsung SDI rose 3.6 percent to 662,000 won.

The country's largest automaker Hyundai Motor went up 0.86 percent to 234,000 won while its smaller affiliate Kia increased 3.66 percent to 87,700 won.

Steelmaker Posco edged up 0.17 percent to 295,500 won.

The Kosdaq increased 6.05 points, or 0.64 percent to close at 3,066.01.

The local currency closed at 1,123.7 won against the dollar, down 6.5 won from the previous session's close.

Bond prices, which move inversely to yields, closed mixed. The yield on the three-year bond lost 4.6 basis points to close at 1.131 percent, and the yield on the 10-year bond added 2.8 basis points to close at 1.64 percent.

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