Shares rise on better-than-expected data

South Korean stocks jumped 1.54 percent on Friday as investors were relieved by China’s not-so-bad economic data and optimistic about a further rebound, analysts said.

The local currency gained ground against the U.S. dollar.

The Korea Composite Stock Price Index climbed 27.5 points to finish at 1,812.89, snapping a five-day decline. The main bourse plunged more than 40 points during the previous session.

Trading volume was moderate at 344.2 million shares worth 4.67 trillion won ($4.06 billion), with gainers slightly outpacing losers 412 to 408.

“China’s second-quarter economic growth was bad, but the market already expected it. That helped investors feel the economy hit the bottom,” said Bae Sung-young, an analyst at Hyundai Securities Co.

China announced that its economy grew 7.6 percent on-year in the April through June period, sharply slowing from a 9.7 percent on-year increase tallied a year earlier. It marked the lowest growth in three years since it hit 6.1 percent growth in the second quarter of 2009.

“The Chinese government also promised to take further actions to maintain steady growth and bolster investment. These movements led the market to expect the Chinese economy to turn around in the next half.”

Bae also noted that steep rallies by large-cap shares such as Samsung Electronics and Hyundai Motor led the market rally.

“Buyers hunted for bargains after a recent sharp decline in the two heavyweights,” he said.

Samsung Electronics lost about 14 percent in the past three weeks to 1,091,000 won on Thursday, while Hyundai Motor fell to a one-month low of 218,500 won on the same day.

The world’s largest memory chipmaker soared 4.4 percent to finish at 1,139,000 won, and Hyundai Motor jumped 3.43 percent to 226,000 won.

Foreigners offloaded a net 228.6 billion won worth of local shares in the past five straight sessions.

Most shares closed bullish.

LG Electronics, South Korea’s second-largest home appliances and handset maker, gained 0.67 percent to 60,400 won and chipmaker SK Hynix rose 0.67 percent to 22,400 won.

Refiners also lent support to a broad market gain, with market leader SK Innovation jumping 3.52 percent to 143,000 won.

Korea Zinc, the world’s second-biggest zinc smelter, added 2.82 percent to 365,000 won, and leading steelmaker POSCO climbed 0.56 percent to 359,500 won. 

(Yonhap News)