Shares end higher Thursday helped by institutional buying

A screen in Hana Bank's trading room in central Seoul shows the Kospi closing at 2,384.28 points on Thursday, up 7.82 points, or 0.33 percent, from the previous trading day. [YONHAP]

Shares ended higher Thursday helped by institutional buying amid worries over the Fed's aggressive rate hikes and their impact on the global economy. The won rose against the dollar.

The Kopsi rose 0.33 percent, or 7.82 points, to 2,384.28. Trading volume was moderate at 410.57 million shares worth 8.79 trillion won ($6.3 billion), with gainers outpacing decliners 508 to 333.

The main index rebounded from a 1.4 percent decline in the previous session amid the dollar's strength and growing worries over the Fed's planned rate hikes to tackle inflation.

"Institutional stock purchases were the main upside factor for the main index in today's session," said Park Hee-cheol, an analyst at Mirae Asset Securities.

Institutions and individuals bought a combined 641 billion won worth of stocks, offsetting foreign selling valued at 651.4 billion won.

Large-cap stocks were mixed across the board.

Samsung Electronics fell 0.7 percent to 55,600 won, SK hynix ended unchanged at 90,400 won, and Hyundai Motor fell 1 percent to 200,000 won. LG Chem jumped 3.37 percent to 644,000 won.

Kakao gained 0.74 percent to 68,000 won, while Naver ended unchanged at 231,500 won. Nexon Games rose 2.24 percent to 15,950 won.

Shipbuilders' stocks fell, with Korea Shipbuilding and Offshore Engineering declining 0.23 percent to 88,100 won and Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering losing 1.07 percent to 18,450 won.

Among decliners, Toptec, a company that manufactures display equipment and automated machines, fell 16.77 percent to 6,600 won.

Helped by the financial authorities' possible market intervention, the won closed higher against the dollar Thursday after falling in the previous five sessions.

The local currency closed at 1,380.80 won against the dollar Thursday, down 3.40 won from the previous session's close.

The Kosdaq gained 9.62 points, or 1.25 percent, to close at 777.81 points.

Bond prices, which move inversely to yields, closed higher. The yield on three-year government bonds fell 14.2 basis points to 3.543 percent, and the yield on the 10-year government bond declined 8.2 basis points to 3.265 percent.

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