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Kospi rises 1.47% as local stocks outrun Wall Street losses

Published: 12 Mar. 2025, 16:35

CHO YONG-JUN
[email protected]

A screen in Hana Bank's trading room in central Seoul shows the Kospi closing at 2,574.82 points on March 12, up 37.22 points, or 1.47 percent, from the previous trading session. [NEWS1]

Shares finished nearly 1.5 percent higher Wednesday as investors scooped up semiconductor and battery shares despite overnight losses on Wall Street.

The benchmark Kospi gained 37.22 points, or 1.47 percent, to close at 2,574.82. The Kosdaq rose 7.99 points, or 1.11 percent, to close at 729.49.

Trade volume was moderate at 396.7 million shares worth 12.23 trillion won ($8.44 billion), with winners outpacing losers 509 to 354.

Foreign and institutional investors together bought a net 411.6 billion won, while retail investors unloaded a net 503.6 billion won.

Overnight, U.S. stock markets fell for the second straight session amid lingering uncertainties over the tariff policies of U.S. President Donald Trump.

The S&P 500 dipped 0.76 percent, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 1.14 percent, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq fell 0.18 percent.

"Despite continued corrections in the U.S. stock market, the Korean stock market has remained relatively stable. However, increased volatility linked to tariff concerns will be unavoidable," Kim Ji-won, an analyst at KB Securities, said.

Samsung Electronics climbed 2.43 percent to 54,900 won, while SK hynix soared 5.91 percent to 198,900 won.

Battery manufacturers also reversed losses from the previous session, with LG Energy Solution jumping 2.2 percent to 348,500 won and Samsung SDI rising 1.91 percent to 213,000 won.

Hyundai Motor gained 1.33 percent to 198,200, while Kia rose 0.71 percent to 99,100 won.

Korea Zinc surged 26.04 percent to 1,065,000 won, and Samsung Biologics rose 1.03 percent to 1,079,000 won.

Posco Holdings rose 5.90 percent to close at 17,500 won.

Kakako stayed flat at 44,100 won while Naver rose 0.71 percent to 214,000 won.

The local currency was trading at 1,451 won against the U.S. dollar at 3:30 p.m., down 7.2 won from the previous session.

Bond prices, which move inversely to yields, ended mixed. Three-year government bonds yield fell 1.1 basis points to 2.550 percent, while the return on the benchmark 10-year U.S. government bonds rose 6.9 basis points to 4.281 percent.

BY CHO YONG-JUN, YONHAP [[email protected]]