Stocks rise almost 1 percent as retail investors buy shares

A screen in Hana Bank's trading room in central Seoul shows the Kospi closing at 2,450.93 points on Tuesday up 24.04 points, or 0.99 percent, from the previous trading day. [YONHAP]

Stocks finished higher Tuesday, as investors moved to buy beaten-down shares while digesting the possibility of the U.S. Federal Reserve keeping its aggressive monetary tightening stance.

The Kospi rose 24.04 points, or 0.99 percent, to close at 2,450.93.

Trading volume was 327.21 million shares worth 6.69 trillion won ($4.97 billion), with winners far outnumbering losers 647 to 208.

Institutions and foreign investors unloaded a net 160.8 billion won of shares, while retail investors picked up a net 140.3 billion won.

"Investors seemed to go bargain hunting after a stock sell-off in the previous session," said Choi Yoo-joon, an analyst at Shinhan Investment.

The market has faced renewed fears about aggressive rate hikes since last Friday when Fed Chair Jerome Powell said the U.S. central bank will keep rates at an elevated level to tame four-decade high inflation at the annual Jackson Hole meeting.

Higher interest rates, which he said will cause "some pain" to the economy, will likely continue "for some time," Powell said.

In Seoul, most big-cap stocks rose.

Samsung Electronics gained 0.34 percent to end at 58,800 won, and SK hynix rose 0.76 percent to 93,200 won. LG Energy Solution went up 1.31 percent to 465,500 won, and LG Chem rose 1.16 percent to 611,000 won. Hyundai Motor rose 3.71 percent to 195,500 won.

Naver added 1.71 percent to 238,000 won, and Kakao rose 1.39 percent to 73,200 won.

Shipbuilding company stocks fell, with Korea Shipping & Offshore Engineering falling 0.21 percent to 96,900 won, and HMM losing 1.36 percent to 21,800 won.

The local currency ended at 1,346.70 won against the dollar, down 3.7 won from the previous session's close.

The Kosdaq gained 17.13 points, or 2.20 percent, to close at 797.02 points.

Bond prices, which move inversely to yields, closed mixed. The yield on three-year government bonds fell 1.0 basis points to 3.639 percent, and the yield on the 10-year government bond rose 6.2 basis points to 3.10 percent.

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