Seoul shares jump 2% on rally in techs, batteries

Published : Apr 24, 2024 - 16:05 Updated : Apr 24, 2024 - 17:00

An electronic board showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index at a dealing room of the Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul on Wednesday. (Yonhap)

South Korean stocks soared 2 percent Wednesday as tech, secondary battery and other market heavyweights rallied following overnight gains on Wall Street. The Korean won rose against the US dollar.

The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index climbed 52.73 points, or 2.01 percent, to 2,675.75. Trade volume was moderate at 319 million shares worth 10.06 trillion won ($7.34 billion). Winners outpaced losers 610 to 270.

Institutions and foreign investors combined bought a net 855.3 billion won, while retail investors unloaded a net 867 billion won worth of shares.

Overnight on Wall Street, the S&P 500 rose 1.2 percent and the tech-heavy Nasdaq jumped 1.59 percent, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.69 percent, as tech heavyweights lifted the broader US stock market.

Han Ji-young, an analyst at Kiwoom Securities, said Seoul shares advanced on "continued expectations of interest rate cuts by the US Federal Reserve following the latest US Purchasing Managers' Index data, as well as strong performances from artificial intelligence-related stocks such as Nvidia."

In Seoul, most blue chips advanced. Market heavyweight Samsung Electronics surged 4.11 percent to 78,600 won and chip rival SK hynix also surged 5.15 percent to 179,800 won.

Battery shares and energy shares also gained traction. Leading battery company LG Energy Solution jumped 4.05 percent to 385,000 won, and top refiner SK Innovation added 1.48 percent 110,000 won.

Financial shares, however, lost ground following their strong gains in the past few sessions. Kookmin Financial slipped 1.85 percent to 68,900 won, and Hana Financial also fell 1.91 percent to 56,500 won.

The local currency ended at 1,369.2 won against the greenback, up 9.1 won from the previous session's close.

Bond prices, which move inversely to yields, fell. The yield on three-year Treasurys rose 2 basis points to 3.509 percent, and the return on the benchmark five-year government bonds climbed 2.3 basis points to 3.579 percent. (Yonhap)