Stocks rise for a second straight day on rebound optimism

Finance

Published: 03 Feb. 2022, 18:21 Updated: 03 Feb. 2022, 19:05

Stocks rise for a second straight day on rebound optimism

A screen in Hana Bank's trading room in central Seoul shows the Kospi closing at 2,707.82 points on Thursday, up 44.48 points, or 1.67 percent, from the previous trading day. [NEWS1]

Stocks advanced for a second straight session Thursday after the three-day national holiday, tracking overnight gains on Wall Street that stemmed from robust earnings reports. The won fell against the dollar.

The benchmark Kospi rose 44.48 points, or 1.67 percent, to close at 2,707.82 points.

Trading volume was moderate at about 429 million shares worth some 12.3 trillion won ($10.2 billion), with gainers outnumbering losers 811 to 90.

Institutions bought a net 51 billion won and foreigners purchased 85 billion won, while retail investors offloaded 136 billion won.

Stocks got off to a good start after the three-day holiday that began Monday.

The Kospi gained ground throughout the session, as the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite added 0.5 percent and the Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 0.63 percent Wednesday.

"Today's gain is largely attributed to the technical rebound. Investors seem to have chipped in for oversold stocks and expectations of strong chip demand," said Meritz Securities analyst Lee Jin-woo.

The domestic stock market went through a steep slide over the last week, hitting the lowest closing in 14 months of 2,614.49 points on Jan. 27 since the Nov. 30, 2020 closing of 2,591.34 points.

The high market volatility was partially attributed to the U.S. Federal Reserve's hawkish stance, as the Seoul stock price dipped sharply ahead of the Federal Open Market Committee policy meeting on Jan. 25-26.

Most large caps closed higher in Seoul.

Samsung Electronics closed unchanged from the previous session at 73,300 won, and chipmaker SK hynix increased 2.9 percent to 124,000 won.

Internet portal operator Naver moved up 3.39 percent to 320,500 won, as Kakao inched up 0.12 percent to 85,100 won.

Pharmaceutical company Samsung Biologics rose 4.47 percent to 772,000, while SK Bioscience gained 2.12 percent to close at 168,500 won. Celltrion increased 3.97 percent to 157,000 won.

LG Chem jumped 5.95 percent to 677,000 won, and Samsung SDI remained unchanged at 584,000 won of the previous session.

SK Innovation rose 1.16 percent 218,500 won while LG Display declined 2.79 percent to 19,150 won.

Game publisher NC Soft lost 0.75 percent to 532,000 won and Netmarble shed 8.68 percent to 100,000 won.

Automaker Hyundai Motor climbed 1.06 percent to 191,500 won, while its affiliate Kia fell 0.61 percent to 81,500 won.

LG Energy Solution, which went public on Jan. 27, jumped 6 percent to 477,000 won.

The local currency closed at 1,206.4 won against the dollar, up 0.9 won from the previous session's close.

The Kosdaq gained 18.73 points, or 2.15 percent, to close at 891.60.

Bond prices, which move inversely to yields, closed higher. The yield on three-year government bonds lost 2.9 basis points to 2.159 percent, and the yield on the benchmark 10-year government bond fell 1.3 basis points to 1.77 percent.

BY SHIN HA-NEE, YONHAP [shin.hanee@joongang.co.kr]