Stocks rise after Fed moves much as expected, won jumps

Finance

Published: 17 Mar. 2022, 18:07

Stocks rise after Fed moves much as expected, won jumps

A screen in Hana Bank's trading room in central Seoul shows the Kospi closing at 2,694.51 points on Thursday, up 35.28 points, or 1.33 percent, from the previous trading day. [YONHAP]

Stocks rallied by more than 1 percent as the U.S. Federal Reserve's monetary meeting results largely fell within investor expectations and optimism for Russia-Ukraine peace talks.

The won soared by the most in two years against the dollar.

The benchmark Kospi advanced 35.28 points, or 1.33 percent, to close at 2,694.51 points.

Trading volume was moderate at about 535 million shares worth some 11.6 trillion won ($9.6 billion), with gainers outnumbering losers 596 to 253.

Institutions bought a net 250 billion won and foreigners purchased 464 billion won, while retail investors offloaded 695 billion won.

Stocks opened strong, taking a cue from the overnight Wall Street rallies. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite surged 3.77 percent, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 2.55 percent.

The Fed raised its key interest rates by a quarter percentage point from near zero and said the world's economy is "very strong," relieving concerns about stagflation.

Investor sentiment was further boosted by hopes for positive results from the Russia-Ukraine peace talks, following reports about indications of progress.

"The Russia-Ukraine peace talks and a stock rebound in China and Hong Kong have added to the uptick momentum of local stocks," Daeshin Securities analyst Lee Kyung-min said.

Samsung Electronics added 1.14 percent to 71,200 won, and chipmaker SK hynix surged 6.44 percent to 124,000 won.

Naver jumped 4.24 percent to 344,500 won, and LG Chem surged 6.33 percent to 470,000 won. KB Financial Group moved up 1.76 percent to 57,900 won.

The local currency closed at 1,214.3 won against the dollar, plunging by 21.4 won from the previous session's close. The daily gain marks the largest since March 27, 2020 when the won soared 22.2 won.

The Kosdaq gained 22.33 points, or 2.50 percent, to close at 914.13 points.

Bond prices, which move inversely to yields, closed mixed. The yield on three-year government bonds lost 5.3 basis points to 2.24 percent, and the yield on the benchmark 10-year government bond added 4.7 basis points to 2.19 percent.

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