Kospi starts the day steadily as investors remain watchful
Published: 13 May. 2024, 10:19
![A screen in Hana Bank's trading room in central Seoul shows the Kospi closing at 2,727.63 points on Friday, up 0.57 percent, or 15.49 points, from the previous trading session. [YONHAP]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2024/05/13/1f219d97-4bc5-4eda-bb34-ae710e137c36.jpg)
A screen in Hana Bank's trading room in central Seoul shows the Kospi closing at 2,727.63 points on Friday, up 0.57 percent, or 15.49 points, from the previous trading session. [YONHAP]
Stocks opened higher Monday while investors remained watchful over mixed signals for the U.S. Federal Reserve's future monetary policy.
The Kospi rose 9.42 points, or 0.35 percent, to 2,737.05 in the first 15 minutes of trading.
Last week, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained ground for the fourth consecutive week, and the S&P 500 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq posted increases for the third straight week.
But on Friday, Wall Street closed mixed as investors faced different signals for the Fed's policy direction amid sticky inflation data and hawkish comments by Fed officials.
In Seoul, large-cap stocks traded mixed.
Samsung Electronics rose 0.76 percent, and SK hynix climbed 1.22 percent.
Hyundai Motor added 1.66 percent, and Kia gained 0.96 percent.
Financial shares kicked off in a bullish mode, with KB Financial Group up 2.52 percent, Shinhan Financial Group up 2.09 percent and Hana Financial Group up 2.58 percent.
But battery and IT shares started weak.
LG Energy Solution dropped 0.78 percent, and its rival Samsung SDI retreated 1.52 percent.
Naver plunged 2.33 percent amid a row over Line, and Kakao fell 0.73 percent.
The local currency was trading at 1,371.40 won against the U.S. dollar, up 3.30 won from the previous session's close.
BY CHOI HAE-JIN, YONHAP [[email protected]]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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