Tech gains lead to more than one percent rise in stocks Wednesday

A screen in Hana Bank's trading room in central Seoul shows the Kospi closing at 2,428.57 points on Wednesday, up 33.31 points, or 1.39 percent, from the previous trading day. [YONHAP]

Stocks closed more than one percent higher Wednesday on tech gains, as investors were hopeful that the U.S. Federal Reserve could ease the pace of rate increases. The won rose against the dollar.

The Kospi climbed 33.31 points, or 1.39 percent, to 2.428.57.

Trading volume was moderate at 539.8 million shares worth 6.57 trillion won ($5.4 billion), with gainers outnumbering decliners 526 to 325.

Institutional and foreign investors were net buyers of a combined 793.8 billion won. Retail investors offloaded a net 792.8 billion won.

"Shares of semiconductors and secondary batteries led gains on institutional and foreign buying," said analyst Seo Sang-yong of Mirae Asset Securities.

"Investors' appetite for risky assets recovered following advances on Wall Street during the Lunar New Year holiday and on hopes the Fed could decelerate the pace of rate hikes," Seo said.

In Seoul, most market heavyweights closed higher.

Samsung Electronics added 2.59 percent to 63,400 won and chipmaker SK hynix jumped 4.34 percent to 91,400 won.

Internet portal provider Naver closed 3.06 percent higher from the previous session at 202,000 won and platform giant Kakao also gained 2.29 percent to reach 62,600 won.

Automaker Hyundai Motor inched up 0.73 percent and its smaller affiliate Kia rose by 1.09 percent.

Battery makers and IT shares gathered ground. Battery maker LG Energy Solution advanced 3.09 percent to 484,000 won and Samsung SDI sharply rose by 4.85 percent to 649,000 won.

Korean Air Lines inched down 0.82 percent to 24,300 won, and Asiana Airlines climbed 0.51 percent to 15,630 won.

Among decliners, bio firm Samsung Biologics slid 0.25 percent to 798,000 won and Posco Holdings declined 1.78 percent to 303,000 won.

The local currency closed at 1,231.7 won against the dollar, down 3.8 won from the previous session's close.

The Kosdaq climbed 14.38 points, or 2.00 percent, to close at 732.35 points.

Bond prices, which move inversely to yields, closed higher. The yield on three-year government bonds lost 4.9 basis points to 3.285 percent, and the yield on the benchmark 10-year government bonds lost 6.1 basis points to 3.458 percent.

BY SEO JI-EUN, YONHAP [seo.jieun1@joongang.co.kr]