Home > Business > Finance

Shares remain steady as investors play waiting game

Published: 27 Nov. 2023, 16:43

KIM JU-YEON
[email protected]

Screens in Hana Bank's trading room in central Seoul show the Kospi closing at 2,495.66 points on Monday, down 0.04 percent, or 0.97 points, from the previous trading session. [YONHAP]

Shares closed almost flat Monday as investors took a wait-and-see approach ahead of the release of major economic data and events, including the central bank's rate decision, later this week. The won rose in value against the dollar.

The Kospi was down 0.97 points, or 0.04 percent, to close at 2,495.66.

Trading volume was slim at 358.9 million shares worth 8.23 trillion won ($6.3 billion), with decliners outnumbering gainers 525 to 349.

Retail and foreign investors unloaded stocks worth 140.7 billion won and 108 billion won, respectively, while institutions bought a combined 251.6 billion won worth of stocks.

On Friday, U.S. stocks closed mixed, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 0.33 percent and the Nasdaq down 0.11 percent.

In Seoul, investors took a cautious approach as key economic data is set to be released later this week, including a composite consumer sentiment index, business survey index and exports data for November.

On Thursday, the Bank of Korea is also set to announce its rate decision.

The central bank is widely expected to keep the rate, which currently stands at 3.5 percent, unchanged, which would be the seventh straight rate freeze in the face of a murky growth outlook.

Samsung Electronics fell 0.56 percent to 71,300 won, while SK hynix jumped more than 2.1 percent to 130,700 won.

Hyundai Motor rose 0.49 percent to 184,900 won, while Kia dropped 0.12 percent to 84,100 won.

Battery shares lost ground.

LG Energy Solution retreated 1.81 percent to 434,500 won, Samsung SDI lost 2.05 percent to 453,500 won, and Posco Future M shed 1.15 percent to 300,000 won.

Among gainers, Naver rose 0.24 percent to 206,000 won and Samsung SDS soared 2.38 percent to 158,900 won. The state-run Korea Electric Power Corporation also climbed 1.12 percent to 19,000 won.

The local currency ended at 1,303.80 won against the dollar, down 2.6 won from the previous session's close.

Bond prices, which move inversely to yields, closed lower. The yield on three-year government bonds rose 1.1 points to 3.689 percent, and the return on the benchmark U.S. 10-year government bonds gained 5.9 points to reach 4.47 percent.

BY KIM JU-YEON, YONHAP [[email protected]]