Samsung's strong earnings propel Kospi up for third day in a row

A screen in Hana Bank's trading room in central Seoul shows the Kospi closing at 2,692.06 points on Tuesday, up 0.17 percent, or 4.62 points, from the previous trading session. [YONHAP]

Stocks finished up for a third consecutive session Tuesday backed by a strong earnings performance by Samsung Electronics and overnight U.S. stock gains. The local currency fell against dollar.

The Kospi rose 4.62 points, or 0.17 percent, to 2,692.06. Trade volume was moderate at 450 million shares worth 11.1 trillion won ($8.03 billion). Winners outpaced losers 439 to 408.

Institutions and foreign investors combined bought a net 522 billion won, while retail investors unloaded a net 527 billion won worth of shares.

Samsung Electronics announced earlier in the day its first quarter operating profit shot up more than tenfold from a year ago in the first quarter, with its chip business shifting to the black for the first time in five quarters.

Overnight, Wall Street shares advanced ahead of key corporate earnings announcements and the U.S. Federal Reserve's rate decision meeting this week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.4 percent, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq also added 0.4 percent. The S&P 500 gained 0.3 percent.

Han Ji-young, an analyst at Kiwoom Securities, said the earnings performance of key companies, including Samsung Electronics, was a key factor in the Kospi's rise during the session.

Samsung Electronics went up 1.04 percent to 77,500 won, while LG Electronics gained 0.1 percent to end at 92,900 won.

Battery shares and energy shares also advanced. LG Energy Solution climbed 2.77 percent to 389,000 won and LG Chem added 1.77 percent to end at 402,500 won.

Finance shares, however, lost ground, with KB Financial tumbling 1.31 percent to 75,600 won and Samsung Life Insurance dropping 1.24 percent to 87,500 won.

IT firm Naver declined 0.16 percent to 184,400 won, while Kakao increased 0.21 percent to 48,600 won.

The local currency closed at 1,382 won against dollar, up 5 won from the previous session's close.

The Kosdaq lost 0.79 points, or 0.09 percent, to close at 868.93.

Bond prices, which move inversely to yields, closed higher. The yield on three-year government bonds fell 2.2 basis points to 3.53 percent, and the return on benchmark U.S. 10-year government bonds fell 5.1 basis points to 4.614 percent.

BY CHOI HAE-JIN, YONHAP [choi.haejin@joongang.co.kr]