SEOUL, Nov 28: Seoul shares, led by the technology sector, hit their highest level in four-weeks on Thursday morning, fuelled by a strong U.S. Consumer confidence survey that boded well for South Korean exporters’ sales to their second largest market.
The Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) gained 0.7 percent to 2,042.60 points as of 0200 GMT after touching an intraday high of 2,046.27, its highest since Oct.31.
Wall Street had closed at record highs overnight, supported by a Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan consumer confidence survey for November that marked 75.1 in its final reading from a preliminary reading of 72.0.
‘In the past 10 years KOSPI had mirrored the U.S. Year-end consumption season to rise 4 percent on average, and with consumer confidence picking up, the outlook seemd quite rosy for this year as well,’ said Chung Seung-jae, an analyst at Mirae Asset Securities.
Technology shares lifted the broader market, buoyed by prospect of increased sales during the holiday consumption season in the United States.
LG Electronics Inc and affiliate LG Display Co Ltd rose 2.7 percent and 3.2 percent, respectively, while memory chipmaker SK Hynix Inc gained 1.9 percent.
Samsung Electronics Co Ltd, the largest company by market capitalisation, rose 1.4 percent to underpin the main index and its affiliate Samsung SDI Co Ltd advanced 1.2 percent.
Retailers Lotte Shopping Co Ltd and E-Mart Co Ltd gained 1.3 percent and 1.9 percent, respectively.
Meanwhile automakers struggled to hold ground on the rapid depreciation of yen, which benefit Japanese rivals in price competitiveness in the overseas markets. Hyundai Motor Co fell 1 percent.
South Korea’s posted a record high current account surplus in October, having been in surplus every month since early 2009, according to data released on Thursday that will further support investor confidence.
Foreign investors purchased a net 70.8 billion won ($66.73 million) of local shares near mid-session, while institutions net purchases amounted to 148 billion won in the morning.
($1 = 1061.0500 Korean won)
(agencies)
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