Seoul stocks open higher after Fed decision
Seoul shares opened higher Thursday, tracking overnight gains on Wall Street, after the Federal Reserve delivered a small rate hike while acknowledging progress in its fight against inflation.
The benchmark Kospi rose 23.98 points, or 0.98 percent, to 2,473.78 in the first 15 minutes of trading.
Overnight, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 0.02 percent higher at 34,092.96 points, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite advanced 2 percent to 11,816.32.
The Fed raised the benchmark lending rate by 25 basis points Wednesday as expected, and its Chair Jerome Powell said the U.S. central bank needs "substantially more evidence" to be sure that inflation is on a downward path.
In Seoul, most large-cap stocks advanced.
Samsung Electronics jumped 2.8 percent, chipmaker SK hynix rose 2.4 percent, carmaker Hyundai Motor climbed 1.1 percent, national flag carrier Korean Air gained 0.4 percent, and car battery maker LG Energy Solution was up 1 percent.
Among decliners, chemical firm LG Chem fell 0.3 percent, budget carrier Air Busan declined 0.8 percent, and Daewoo Shipbuilding & Engineering shed 0.9 percent.
The local currency was trading at 1,221.05 won against the dollar as of 9:15 a.m., down 10.25 won from the previous session's close.
Yonhap
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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