Seoul stocks open higher as banking jitters ease
![A screen in Hana Bank's trading room in central Seoul shows stock and foreign exchange markets open on Friday. [NEWS1]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2023/03/17/bbac1be7-4588-43eb-8884-090d797f7779.jpg)
A screen in Hana Bank's trading room in central Seoul shows stock and foreign exchange markets open on Friday. [NEWS1]
Stocks opened higher Friday on news that a group of banks would throw a lifeline to a troubled U.S. bank.
The benchmark Kospi added 15.84 points, or 0.67 percent, to 2,393.75 in the first 15 minutes of trading.
Overnight, Wall Street finished up after 11 American banks vowed to inject $30 billion into the ailing San Francisco-based First Republic Bank, reassuring investors of the financial soundness of the U.S. banking system.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 1.17 percent, the S&P 500 added 1.76 percent, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite jumped 2.48 percent.
In Seoul, top-cap Samsung Electronics advanced 1.84 percent, and chipmaker SK hynix jumped 5.06 percent.
Internet portal operator Naver climbed 1.47 percent, and Kakao, the operator messaging app KakaoTalk, rose 1 percent.
Battery makers lost ground, with LG Energy Solution edging down 2.43 percent and Samsung SDI losing 2.3 percent. Chemical firm LG Chem declined 2.19 percent.
The local currency was changing hands at 1,302.9 won against the dollar as of 9:15 a.m., down 10.1 won from the previous session's close.
Yonhap
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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