Shares end higher Thursday on foreign buying

A screen in Hana Bank's trading room in central Seoul shows the Kospi closing at 2,473.11 points on Thursday, up 11.66 points, or 0.47 percent, from the previous trading day. [YONHAP]

Shares ended higher on foreign buying on Thursday. The won rose against the dollar.

The benchmark Kospi rose 11.66 points, or 0.47 percent, to close at 2,473.11 points.

Trading volume was moderate at 393.27 million shares worth 7.4 trillion won ($5.6 billion), with gainers outnumbering losers 466 to 382.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.3 percent, and the Nasdaq Composite climbed 2.6 percent on robust economic data showing the world's largest economy is still chugging along.

Foreigners bought a net 201.0 billion won worth of stock and retail investors a net 13.1 billion won. Institutions offloaded a net 227.4 billion won worth of stocks.

Investors remain watchful over the Fed's monetary policy as the U.S. bank signaled that it will do what is required to combat high inflation despite recession risks, analysts said.

In Seoul, stocks closed mixed.

Samsung Electronics rose 0.3 percent to 61,500 won, national flag carrier Korean Air Lines climbed 5.2 percent to 26,400 won, and home appliance maker LG Electronics gained 2.4 percent to 96,000 won.

LG Energy Solution advanced 1.37 percent to 443,000 won, and HMM gained 1.81 percent to 25,350 won.

Kakao climbed 7.5 percent to 81,700 won, and internet portal operator Naver rose 1.67 percent to 273,500 won.

Among decliners, carmaker Hyundai Motor fell 0.3 percent to 196,500 won, and state-run utility Korea Electric Power declined 0.5 percent to 21,800 won.

Doosan Enerbility dropped 0.53 percent to 18,600 won, and Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering lost 3.24 percent to 86,700 won.

Bio stocks closed higher.

Samsung Biologics gained 0.46 percent to 875,000 won and Celltrion advanced 1.61 percent to 189,000 won.

The local currency closed at 1,310.10 won against the dollar, down 0.20 won from the previous session's close.

The Kosdaq gained 9.80 points, or 1.20 percent, to close at 825.16 points.

Bond prices, which move inversely to yields, closed mixed. The yield on three-year government bonds gained 3.6 basis points to 3.107 percent, and the yield on the 10-year government bond dropped 4.7 basis points to 2.7 percent.

BY CHO JUNG-WOO, YONHAP [cho.jungwoo1@joongang.co.kr]