Seoul equities open higher on oil price rebound

Korean share prices opened in the positive on Thursday, edging up 0.58 percent despite a sharp rebound in crude oil prices.

The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index rose 10.98 points to 1,901.65 in the first 15 minutes of trading.

The index was trading 0.73 percent higher at 1904.39 points as of 9:38 a.m.

Refiners, however, were bullish after oil prices jumped 8 percent on Wednesday when Russia’s foreign minister revived hopes for a deal among international oil producers to cut output.

The country’s leading refiner SK Innovation advanced 4.94 percent and its smaller rival S-Oil gained 2.79 percent.

On the downside, GS Retail, the retail unit of the GS Group, tumbled 12.36 percent after reporting worse than expected fourth-quarter earnings due to sluggish supermarket sales and real estate rental business.

The local currency was trading at 1,202.8 won against the U.S. dollar as of 9:15 a.m., up 16.5 won from Wednesday’s close.

(khnews@heraldcorp.com)