Stocks finish higher Wednesday as investors buy oversold issues

Finance

Published: 24 Aug. 2022, 16:41 Updated: 25 Aug. 2022, 16:02

Stocks finish higher Wednesday as investors buy oversold issues

A screen in Hana Bank's trading room in central Seoul shows the Kospi closing at 2,447.45 points on Wednesday, up 12.11 points, or 0.5 percent, from the previous trading day. [NEWS1]

Stocks finished higher Wednesday, after five consecutive sessions of losses, as investors bought oversold issues. The won also gained ground against the dollar for the first time in seven sessions.

The Kospi added 12.11 points, or 0.5 percent, to close at 2,447.45, breaking the five-day losing streak.

Trading volume was moderate at 407.61 million shares worth 7.93 trillion won ($5.91 billion), with gainers outpacing decliners 575 to 275.

Institutions and retail investors, combined, sold off a net 146.14 billion won worth of shares, while foreign investors picked up a net 149.9 billion won.

Investors are bracing for more monetary tightening policy at home, along with the possibility of hawkish remarks from the United States later this week.

The Bank of Korea (BOK) is widely expected to raise its interest rate by 0.25 percentage points at a policy meeting Thursday.

In July, the BOK delivered an unprecedented 0.5 percentage-point rate hike in a bid to tame runaway inflation, the sixth rate increase since August last year.

"The Kospi gained partly from bargain hunting following the market's fall for the fifth straight session, along with the slight weakening of the dollar against the won," said Choi Yoo-joon, an analyst at Shinhan Investment.

Most big-cap shares ended mixed.

Among winners, Samsung SDI gained 0.68 percent to 591,000 won, while LG Energy Solution went up 1.35 percent to 451,000 won. Naver rose 0.21 percent to 241,500 won and Kakao added 0.13 percent to 74,900 won.

Samsung Electronics fell 0.17 percent to 59,000 won and SK hynix lost 0.43 percent to 93,200 won.

The local currency ended at 1,342.10 won against the dollar, down 3.40 won from the previous session's close when the won finished at 1,345.50 won against the greenback, hitting the lowest figure since April 28, 2009.

The Kosdaq gained 9.72 points, or 1.24 percent, to close at 793.14 points.

Bond prices, which move inversely to yields, closed lower. The yield on three-year government bonds climbed 1.9 basis points to 3.309 percent, and the yield on the 10-year government bond rose 2.2 basis points to 3.05 percent.

BY LIM JEONG-WON, YONHAP [lim.jeongwon@joongang.co.kr]