Third day of Kospi gains on good jobs report

A screen in Hana Bank's trading room in central Seoul shows the Kospi closing at 3,182.38 points on Wednesday, up 13.30 points, or 0.42 percent from the previous trading day. [NEWS1]

Stocks closed a tad higher to extend their winning streak to a third day Wednesday as investor sentiment was boosted by the country's better-than-expected jobs data, coupled with an overnight rally on Wall Street. The won rose against the dollar.

The benchmark Kospi gained 13.3 points, or 0.42 percent, to finish at 3,182.38. Trading volume was moderate at 1.7 billion shares worth 15.3 trillion won ($13.7 billion), with gainers outpacing losers 485 to 351.

Korea added 314,000 jobs last month, the first time that Asia's fourth-largest economy added jobs since February 2020.

Investors' sentiment was also boosted by overnight gains on Wall Street, where the S&P 500 closed at a record high level on the back of gains in tech shares.

Analysts said the suspended use of the single-dose Covid-19 vaccine by Johnson & Johnson in the U.S. is not likely to have a long-term impact on the market.

"Overnight, the issue had only a limited impact on the U.S. stock market as well. It is not likely that the issue will spread further," said Kim Yoo-mi, an analyst at Kiwoom Securities Co.

Foreigners scooped up a net 106 billion won worth of stocks, while individual investors offloaded 300 billion won worth. Institutions bought more shares than they sold at 178 billion won.

Samsung Electronics remained unchanged from the previous session at 84,000 won, while chipmaker SK hynix shed 1.79 percent to 137,000 won. Home appliances maker LG Electronics shot up 2.54 percent to 161,500 won.

SK Innovation edged down 0.18 percent to 276,500 won, ending two straight sessions of rallies after reaching a last-minute settlement in a bitter U.S. trade dispute with LG Chem-owned LG Energy Solution earlier this week.

Carmaker Hyundai Motor advanced 1.09 percent to 232,500 won after the firm announced its plan to resume the operation of one of its production lines following a weeklong suspension due to a chip parts shortage.

The Kosdaq gained 4.05 points, or 0.40 percent to close at 1,014.42.

The local currency closed at 1,116.60 won against the dollar, down 9.3 won from the previous session.

Bond prices, which move inversely to yields, closed higher. The yield on three-year treasuries lost 3.7 basis points to 1.102 percent, and the yield on the benchmark ten-year government bond lost 4.7 basis points to 1.62 percent.

BY LEE TAE-HEE, YONHAP [lee.taehee2@joongang.co.kr]