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Samsung rally drives Kospi up more than 1 percent

Published: 08 Jan. 2025, 16:56

KIM JU-YEON
[email protected]

A screen in Hana Bank's trading room in central Seoul shows the Kospi closing at 2521.05 points on Jan. 8, up 1.16 percent, or 28.95 points, from the previous trading session. [NEWS1]

Shares rose more than 1 percent Wednesday, driven by advances in top-cap Samsung Electronics and other tech shares. The local currency fell in value against the dollar.

The Kospi added 28.95 points, or 1.16 percent, to close at 2,521.05, extending the winning streak to a fourth session.

Trade volume was moderate at 356.27 million shares worth 10.24 trillion won ($7.03 billion), with winners outnumbering losers 459 to 407.

The index opened lower, tracking overnight losses on Wall Street, and moved within a tight range before gaining ground.

Foreigners and institutions purchased a net 203.01 billion won and 110.77 billion won worth of shares, respectively, while retail investors shed a net 387 billion won worth of shares.

Most large-cap shares finished higher.

Tech firm Samsung Electronics soared 3.43 percent to 57,300 won as Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, on Tuesday, expressed confidence in Samsung's achievements in memory history, especially in the high bandwidth memory (HBM) field.

Huang told reporters on the sidelines of the ongoing CES 2025 in Las Vegas that Samsung has to “engineer a new design,” but that “they can do it. They are working very fast. They're very committed.”

“Samsung's fourth quarter earnings fell short of market expectations, but that has well been reflected in its share price. Investors are expected to shift their focus to other factors,” said Han Ji-young, an expert from Kiwoom Securities.

EV battery maker LG Energy Solution advanced 2.19 percent to 373,500 won, and LG Chem went up 0.39 percent to 256,500 won.

Major bio shares gathered ground. Samsung Biologics surged 2.54 percent to 10,008,000 won, and Celltrion climbed 0.33 percent to 184,500 won.

Carmakers also ended higher. Hyundai Motor advanced 1.18 percent to 213,500 won, and its affiliate Kia jumped 1.92 percent to 101,000 won.

But chipmaker SK hynix shed 0.15 percent to 194,700 won, while top portal operator Naver slid 0.48 percent to 207,000 won.

The local currency was quoted at 1,455.0 won against the greenback at 3:30 p.m., up 1.5 won from the previous session.

Bond prices, which move inversely to yields, closed mixed. Three-year government bond yields remained flat at 2.508 percent, while the return on the benchmark 10-year U.S. government bonds rose by 4.0 basis points to 4.679 percent.

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