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Korea's shares open higher ahead of Fed meeting

Published: 02 May. 2023, 09:52 Updated: 02 May. 2023, 15:18

A screen in Hana Bank's trading room in central Seoul shows stock and foreign exchange markets open on Tuesday. [NEWS1]

Stocks opened higher Tuesday as investors wait to see a widely expected interest rate hike by the U.S. Federal Reserve in the policy meeting later this week.

The Kospi rose 17.57 points, or 0.7 percent, to trade at 2,519.10 in the first 15 minutes of trading.

The Fed is expected to raise the interest rate by another 0.25 percentage points at the end of the Federal Open Market Committee on Wednesday in what will be the latest move in its aggressive monetary tightening to tame inflation.

U.S. stocks ended nearly flat Monday after JPMorgan Chase & Co. said it is buying First Republic Bank from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation in the wake of the collapse of regional banks in the United States.

In Seoul, tech and chemical blue-chips drove up the index.

Samsung Electronics gained nearly 1 percent, and battery maker LG Energy Solution was up more than 1.2 percent.

Battery components maker Posco Future M jumped nearly 4.8 percent.

Bio firm Samsung Biologics was down about 1.4 percent. Container shipper HMM fell 1.8 percent.

The local currency was trading at 1,341.10 won against the dollar at 9:15 a.m., up 3.4 won from Friday's close.

The Korean financial markets were closed Monday for the Labor Day holiday.

Yonhap