Stocks close higher Thursday extending winning streak to fifth day

Home > Business > Finance

Stocks close higher Thursday extending winning streak to fifth day

Published: 13 Apr. 2023, 17:30

A screen in Hana Bank's trading room in central Seoul shows the Kospi closing at 2,561.66 points on Thursday, up 0.43 percent, or 11.02 points, from the previous trading day. [YONHAP]

Stocks closed higher to extend their winning streak to a fifth day Thursday amid the U.S. Federal Reserve's warning of a recession later this year. The won rose sharply against the dollar.

The Kospi gained 11.02 points, or 0.43 percent, to 2,561.66, managing to extend the winning streak for five straight sessions.

Trading volume was high at 826.7 million shares worth 11.7 trillion won ($8.93 billion), with gainers outnumbering decliners 535 to 330.

The market bobbed in and out of negative terrain but closed higher on growing optimism that China's better-than-expected exports may boost outbound shipments from Korea.

"It's an official outlook from Fed officials in the minutes that the economy will fall into a 'mild recession' in the second half," Han Ji-young, an analyst at Kiwoom Securities, said. This spurred market uncertainties and unnerved investors, Han added.

The Fed's minutes from the March policy meeting showed some officials forecasting a "mild recession" later this year, with concerns over the liquidity crisis at the banking sector sparked by the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank.

But such worries are unlikely to derail the Fed's move to keep its restrictive monetary policy, as U.S. inflation data, released Wednesday, showed the prices, excluding volatile food and energy, staying well above the Fed's 2 percent range target in March.

The data bolstered bets the Fed will go ahead with another quarter-point rate hike at the end of its policy meeting in May.

Shares closed mixed in Seoul.

Samsung Electronics added 0.15 percent to 66,100, and LG Energy Solution rose 1.53 percent to 599,000 won.

Samsung Biologics advanced 1.88 percent to 815,000 won.

Posco Holdings sank 3.69 percent to 391,500 won, and Korea Zinc fell 1.65 percent to 535,000 won.

The local currency ended at 1,310.4 won against the dollar, down 15.3 won from Wednesday's close.

Bond prices, which move inversely to yields, closed higher. The yield on three-year government bonds fell 3.0 basis points to 3.196 percent, and the yield on the benchmark 10-year government bonds shed 2.7 basis points to 3.399 percent.

BY SOHN DONG-JOO, YONHAP [sohn.dongjoo@joongang.co.kr]