Korea's stock market opens low but closes high Monday

A screen in Hana Bank's trading room in central Seoul shows the Kospi closing at 2,219.71 points on Monday, up 7.16 points, or 0.32 percent, from the previous trading day. [NEWS1]

Korea's stock market advanced for a second consecutive session on Monday as investors went on the hunt for undervalued stocks. The won fell against the dollar.

After choppy trading, the benchmark Kospi added 7.16 points, or 0.32 percent, to close at 2,219.71 points.

Trading volume was moderate at about 487 million shares worth some 6.4 trillion won ($4.5 billion), with gainers outnumbering losers 538 to 322.

Stocks opened steeply lower, taking a cue from a plunge on Wall Street on Friday that spooked local investors.

The Kospi trimmed earlier losses in the morning session and shifted into positive terrain as investors scooped oversold stocks.

On Friday, the Nasdaq Composite tumbled 3.08 percent and the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.34 percent amid woes over higher inflation. The S&P 500 retreated 2.37 percent.

A hike in U.S. consumer prices and inflation expectations for September fanned worries that the U.S. Federal Reserve may take another big rate hike going forward.

"The stock market has been roiled excessively, particularly in a weak won-dollar situation like this, and spurred investors to go bottom-fishing," said Mirae Asset Securities analyst Park Gwang-nam.

Samsung Electronics increased 0.53 percent to 56,600 won, and LG Energy Solutions gained 1.76 percent to 491,500 won.

Naver grew 0.91 percent to 167,000 won, but SK hynix lost 0.31 percent to 95,200 won.

Hyundai Motor traded unchanged at 167,000 won.

Kakao, the operator of the country's most popular mobile messenger app KakaoTalk, closed 5.93 percent down at 48,350 won after slumping nearly 10 percent due to its service disruption over the weekend that stemmed from a fire at its data center.

The won closed at 1,435.3 won against the dollar, up 6.8 won from the previous session's close, after touching 1,441.4 won intraday.

The Kosdaq gained 3.76 points, or 0.55 percent, to close at 682.00 points.

Bond prices, which move inversely to yields, closed lower. The yield on three-year government bonds gained 1.2 basis points to 4.231 percent, and the yield on 10-year government bonds remained unchanged at 4.200 percent.

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