Stocks rise as investors pick up tech shares, hope for recovery

A screen in Hana Bank's trading room in central Seoul shows the Kospi closing at 2,237.86 points on Thursday, up 22.64 points, or 1.02 percent, from the previous trading day. [YONHAP]

Stocks made solid gains Thursday as investors picked up big-cap tech shares on hopes for a recovery in a semiconductor industry cycle. The won sharply rose against the dollar.

The benchmark Kospi added 22.64 points, or 1.02 percent, to end at 2,237.86, extending its winning streak to a third consecutive session.

Trading volume was moderate at 631.62 million shares worth 6.67 trillion won ($4.75 billion), with gainers outpacing losers 776 to 118.

Foreigners bought shares worth a net 251.9 billion won, while retail investors sold a net 185.7 billion won and institutions a net 74.5 billion won worth of shares.

The Seoul market opened higher and maintained the upward momentum throughout the session despite overnight losses on Wall Street amid lingering concerns over aggressive monetary tightening in major economies and a global economic recession.

"Investors paid keen attention to the positive outlook on the chip market by Morgan Stanley," Seo Sang-young, an analyst at Mirae Asset Securities, said.

Earlier, Morgan Stanley anticipated a recovery in the semiconductor cycle in the second half of next year and recommended "moving overweight" for quality stocks.

It also forecast that Korean and other emerging markets are bottoming after a long stretch of losses.

In Seoul, Samsung Electronics rose 0.54 percent to 56,300 won, and SK hynix inched up 0.11 percent to 89,900 won.

LG Energy Solutions jumped 1.92 percent to 478,000 won, and Samsung SDI surged 2.81 percent to 585,000 won.

Hyundai Motor advanced 0.56 percent to 178,000 won, and its affiliate Kia went up 0.56 percent to 71,500 won.

Naver advanced 1.83 percent to 167,000 won following deep losses for the two previous sessions.

The local currency ended at 1,402.4 won against the dollar, down 7.7 won from the previous session's close.

The Kosdaq gained 20.67 points, or 3.02 percent, to close at 706.01 points.

Bond prices, which move inversely to yields, closed mixed. The yield on three-year government bonds lost 0.2 basis points to 4.140 percent, and the yield on the 10-year government bond advanced 3.4 basis points to 4.102 percent.

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