Shares close higher as investors await Nvidia earnings

Screens in Hana Bank's trading room in central Seoul show the Kospi closing at 2,510.19 points on Tuesday, up 0.76 percent, or 18.99 points, from the previous trading session. [YONHAP]

Shares closed higher Tuesday on tech gains, with investors awaiting earnings results from AI chip leader Nvidia and other U.S. tech firms this week. The won rose in value against the dollar.

The Kospi jumped 19.22 points, or 0.8 percent, to close at 2,510.42.

Trade volume was moderate at 340.42 million shares worth 7.6 trillion won ($5.9 billion), with gainers outnumbering losers 598 to 271.

Overnight, the Dow Jones Industrial Average increased 0.6 percent to 35,151.04, and the tech-rich Nasdaq grew 1.1 percent to 14,284.53.

Institutions and foreigners bought a combined 461 billion won worth of stocks, exceeding individuals' stock selling valued at 438 billion won.

Nvidia is set to release quarterly results Tuesday (U.S. Eastern time) amid strong demand for generative AI.

Investors also await minutes of the U.S. Federal Reserve's Nov. 1 policy meeting and U.S. existing home sales data for clues about the central bank's future rate plans, analysts said. Both are expected the same Tuesday.

“Market watchers have been concerned over the Federal Reserve's additional rate hikes to tame inflation. But they now appear to expect that the Fed may cut rates as early as in March next year, as U.S. companies hire less people and the pace of wage growth slows down,” said Park Hee-cheol, an analyst at Mirae Asset Securities.

In Seoul, tech stocks were the lead gainers.

Samsung Electronics rose 0.1 percent to 72,800 won, SK hynix climbed 0.5 percent to 132,000 won, SK Telecom jumped 0.2 percent to 52,100 won, and LG Energy Solution was up 0.7 percent to 447,000 won.

Among decliners, Korea Aerospace Industries fell 0.5 percent to 46,050 won, Kia dropped 1 percent to 83,600 won, and Hanwha Ocean, formerly Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering, shed 2.6 percent to 26,750 won.

The local currency closed at 1,289.2 won against the dollar, down 2.4 won from the previous session's close.

Bond prices, which move inversely to yields, closed higher. The yield on three-year government bonds fell 2.5 points to 3.645 percent, and the return on the benchmark U.S. 10-year government bonds dropped 1.9 points to 4.420 percent.

BY KIM JU-YEON, YONHAP [kim.juyeon2@joongang.co.kr]