Seoul shares open tad higher amid eased woes over global banking sector
Published: 20 Mar. 2023, 11:37
Updated: 20 Mar. 2023, 12:03
![A screen in Hana Bank's trading room in central Seoul shows stock and foreign exchange markets open on Monday. [NEWS1]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2023/03/20/6293fdf2-2fb1-4387-a019-02489bf4aab1.jpg)
A screen in Hana Bank's trading room in central Seoul shows stock and foreign exchange markets open on Monday. [NEWS1]
Stocks opened a tad higher Monday amid eased woes over the global banking sector.
The benchmark Kospi added 3.34 points, or 0.14 percent, to 2,399.03 in the first 15 minutes of trading.
On Friday, U.S. shares ended lower due to the decrease in banking stocks in the wake of the failure of the Silicon Valley Bank. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 1.19 percent, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite fell 0.74 percent.
According to media reports on Sunday, Swiss authorities have been pushing for a forced takeover of Credit Suisse by UBS in an effort to avoid further turmoil in the global banking sector.
In Seoul, tech blue chips went down, offsetting gains of big-cap bio and platform shares.
Samsung Electronics fell 0.98 percent, and chip maker SK hynix lost 0.12 percent.
Battery maker LG Energy Solution sank 0.9 percent, and LG Chem went down 0.14 percent.
Samsung Biologics rose 1.49 percent, and Celltrion grew 0.77 percent.
Internet portal operator Naver surged 1.77 percent, and Kakao, the operator of the mobile messenger KakaoTalk, advanced 1.33 percent.
Carmakers traded mixed, with Hyundai Motor going up 0.17 percent, while its affiliate Kia slid 0.75 percent.
The local currency was trading at 1,299.70 won against the dollar as of 9:15 a.m., down 2.5 won from the previous session's close.
Yonhap
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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