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Stocks close higher to end three-day fall

Published: 22 Jun. 2023, 16:43

Screens in Hana Bank's trading room in central Seoul show the Kospi closing at 2,593.70 points on Thursday, up 0.43 percent, or 11.07 points, from the previous trading session. [YONHAP]

Stocks closed higher Thursday after three straight days of losses as institutional buyers led the upturn on bargain hunting. The won lost ground against the dollar.

The Kospi gained 11.07 points, or 0.43 percent, to close at 2,593.7. The benchmark index opened lower but climbed into positive territory within the first 30 minutes as investors digested U.S. Federal Reserve chief's hawkish congressional testimony.

Trade volume was moderate at 601.54 million shares worth 8.76 trillion won ($6.7 billion), with decliners outnumbering gainers 492 to 358.

Foreign and retail investors offloaded a net 239.1 billion won worth of local shares, while institutions bought a net 237.1 billion won.

Stocks got off to a weak start, tracking overnight Wall Street losses after Fed Chair Jerome Powell reaffirmed the central bank remained focused on wrestling down inflation back to its 2 percent target and that there could be two more quarter-percentage point hikes this year.

"Nearly all [Federal Open Market Committee] participants expect it will be appropriate to raise interest rates somewhat further by the end of the year," he said.

In Seoul, large-cap stocks closed mixed.

Samsung Electronics added 1.13 percent to close at 71,300 won, and SK hynix shed 0.96 percent to 114,000 won.

LG Energy Solution grew 1.97 percent to 569,000 won, and Samsung SDI closed flat at 695,000 won.

LG Chem lost 0.28 percent to 721,000 won, Hyundai Motor went down 0.98 percent to 202,000 won, and Kia dropped 0.6 percent to 83,400 won.

Posco Holdings hiked 3.53 percent to 396,000 won, and Posco Future M rose 0.8 percent to 377,000 won.

HYBE jumped 3.54 percent to 307,000 won on strong outlooks for sales of offline goods and online contents of their K-pop groups.

The local currency ended at 1,294.9 won against the dollar, up 2.9 won from the previous session's close.

Bond prices, which move inversely to yields, closed lower. The yield on three-year government bonds advanced 2.1 basis points to 3.592 percent, and the yield on benchmark 10-year government bonds gained 0.2 basis points to 3.723 percent.

BY SOHN DONG-JOO, YONHAP [[email protected]]