Kospi closes up 1% on gains for tech, financial stocks

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Kospi closes up 1% on gains for tech, financial stocks

Published: 14 Oct. 2024, 18:46 Updated: 14 Oct. 2024, 19:01

CHO YONG-JUN
cho.yongjun1@joongang.co.kr

A screen in Hana Bank's trading room in central Seoul shows the Kospi closing at 2,623.29 points on Monday, up 1.02 percent, or 26.38 points, from the previous session. [NEWS1]

Shares closed sharply higher on Monday, helped by strong advances in tech and financial stocks. The local currency lost ground against the dollar.

The benchmark Kospi added 26.38 points, or 1.02 percent, to close at 2,623.29.

Trading volume was moderate at 391 million shares worth 8.3 trillion won ($6.12 billion), with gainers outnumbering losers 488 to 395.

Foreigners net bought 77.6 billion won worth of shares while retail investors dumped 440 billion won. Institutions scooped up a net 325 billion won worth of shares.

Foreign investors have remained net sellers of local shares for two consecutive months, selling 2.51 trillion won and 7.36 trillion won worth of listed shares in August and September, respectively, according to earlier reports.

"Whether foreigners will stop their aggressive net selling centered on semiconductor shares will be a major deciding factor for the local market this week," Kiwoom Securities analyst Han Ji-young said, noting that offshore investors have already net sold some 1 trillion won worth of shares this month.

Samsung Electronics surged 2.53 percent to close at 60,800 won, while SK hynix advanced 0.81 percent to 187,500 won.

Financial firms also finished bullish, with KB Financial spiking 6.46 percent to 97,200 won, while Woori Financial surged 3.96 percent to 16,540 won and Shinhan Financial added 1.04 percent to 58,100 won.

LG Energy Solution lost 1.22 percent to 406,000 won and Samsung SDI tumbled 3.75 percent to 359,000 won.

Hyundai Motor stayed flat at 248,500 won while Kia shed 0.49 percent to 100,600 won.

The local currency was trading at 1,355.90 won against the greenback at 3:30 p.m., up 6.40 won from the previous session. The Kosdaq lost 0.72 points, or 0.09 percent, to close at 770.26.

Bond prices, which move inversely to yields, closed mixed. The yield on three-year Treasurys fell 0.8 basis points to 2.939 percent, and the return on the benchmark 10-year U.S. government bonds increased 4.0 basis points to 4.101 percent.

BY CHO YONG-JUN, YONHAP [cho.yongjun1@joongang.co.kr]