SEOUL, Feb 4: South Korean shares rose to a near two-month intraday high on Wednesday, as risk appetites were rejuvenated by Greece’s proposal to end its debt stand-off while oil prices extended sharp gains into a fourth day. The Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) climbed 0.7 percent to 1,965.67 points as of 0145 GMT, its highest level since Dec 9 and narrowing its gap with the index’s 120-day moving average of 1,972.35 points.
Crude prices rocketed 19 percent over the last four sessions, fuelling a rally in energy counters. LG Chem surged 3.6 percent on Wednesday while S-Oil gained 2.7 percent. Shares in Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering were up 1.3 percent after announcing it won a $200 million order to build an LNG carrier from an undisclosed client. Broad gains were seen across the main board, with 16 out of the 17 major KOSPI sub-indices in positive territory while winning shares outnumbered losers nearly 2 to 1. The KOSPI 200 benchmark of core stocks was up 0.77 percent while the junior, tech-heavy KOSDAQ gained 0.57 percent. The South Korean won rose against the dollar on Wednesday morning, underpinned by equity-linked foreign demand for the local currency as tempered worries over Greece whetted appetites for riskier assets.
The won was trading at 1,091.8 to the dollar as of 0145 GMT, compared to 1,097.4 quoted at the end of Tuesday’s session. ‘The dollar’s strength is being sapped by the recent trend of disappointing data from the U.S. as well as the clearing of overloaded short positions in the euro after the positive news from Greece,’ said Hong Seok-chan, an FX strategist at Daishin Economic Research Institute.
Offshore investors bought a net 109.7 billion won ($100.4 million) of KOSPI shares by late morning, which represents the largest one-day net inflow from foreign funds in nearly one month.
March futures on three-year treasury bonds fell 11 basis points to trade at 108.73.
(AGENCIES)
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