Kospi edges up amid U.S. rate cut hopes

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Kospi edges up amid U.S. rate cut hopes

Published: 05 Jun. 2024, 09:58 Updated: 05 Jun. 2024, 10:12

A screen in Hana Bank's trading room in central Seoul shows stock markets closing on Tuesday. [YONHAP]

Stocks opened slightly higher Wednesday backed by gains of chip and battery shares amid hopes for a rate cut by the Federal Reserve.

The Kospi rose 7.42 points, or 0.28 percent, to 2,669.52 in the first 15 minutes of trading.

Overnight, the U.S. stock market closed slightly higher on softer-than-expected labor market data that bolstered hopes for an interest rate cut by the Fed.

In Seoul, Samsung Electronics jumped 1.99 percent following news that U.S. tech giant Nvidia was considering using the Korean company's high bandwidth memory chips in its products.

Battery shares also continued their gains from the previous session. LG Energy Solution gained 1.04 percent and Samsung SDI added 0.93 percent.

On the contrary, auto and energy-related stocks traded lower. Top automaker Hyundai Motor fell 0.97 percent and leading refiner SK Innovation lost 2.4 percent.

The local currency was trading at 1,375.65 won against the dollar, down 0.35 won from the previous session's close.

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