Stocks inch up Wednesday as investors pick up tech bargains

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Stocks inch up Wednesday as investors pick up tech bargains

A screen in Hana Bank's trading room in central Seoul shows the Kospi closing at 2,215.22 points on Wednesday, up 5.84 points, or 0.26 percent, from the previous trading day. [YONHAP]

A screen in Hana Bank's trading room in central Seoul shows the Kospi closing at 2,215.22 points on Wednesday, up 5.84 points, or 0.26 percent, from the previous trading day. [YONHAP]

 
Stocks inched up Wednesday as investors picked up tech bargains following solid gains on Wall Street over hopes for the Federal Reserve's slowdown in its aggressive monetary tightening.
 
After choppy trading, the benchmark Kospi added 5.84 points, or 0.26 percent, to end at 2,215.22, extending its winning streak to a second straight session.
 
Trading volume was moderate at 847.91 million shares worth 9.34 trillion won ($6.62 billion), with losers outpacing gainers 633 to 248.
 
Institutions sold shares a net 550.8 billion won worth of stocks, while retail investors bought a net 454.3 biliion won and foreign investors a net 76.7 billion won.
 
The market opened sharply higher, tracking U.S. rallies, but had moved between positive and negative terrain before ending with modest gains amid lingering concerns over a global economic recession.
 
A U.S. job report showed that the number of job openings plunged by the most in about two and half years in August, which raised hope for the Federal Reserve to rethink its strong push for monetary policy tightening.
 
"The job data and other latest signs of the U.S. economic slowdown would raise hope for the Fed pivot amid fears of a recession," Shinhan Investment analyst Choi Yoo-joon said.
 
In Seoul, Samsung Electronics rose 1.45 percent to 56,000 won, and SK hynix surged 4.18 percent to 89,800 won.
 
LG Energy Solutions soared 5.51 percent to 469,000 won, and Samsung SDI added 2.34 percent to 569,000 won. 
 
Hyundai Motor fell 1.39 percent to 177,000 won and its affiliate Kia retreated 2.34 percent to 71,100 won.
 
Naver sank 7.08 percent to a fresh 52-week low of 164,000 won following a big drop in the previous session.
 
The local currency ended at 1,410.1 won against the dollar, down 16.4 won from the previous session's close.
 
The Kosdaq lost 11.45 points, or 1.64 percent, to close at 685.34 points.
 
Bond prices, which move inversely to yields, closed lower. The yield on three-year government bonds gained 5.8 basis points to 4.142 percent, and the yield on the 10-year government bond advanced 6.1 basis points to 4.068 percent.

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