SKorean shares close higher on falling oil prices, Wall Street advance
South Korean shares closed higher on Thursday after a three-day losing streak, as investors cheered Wall Street’s advance and a sharp drop in oil prices overnight. New York’s main futures contract, light sweet crude for August delivery, had dropped more than $10.50 over two days, largely because of fears that slowing economic growth will hurt demand for oil. The recent record-breaking run in oil prices has put heavy pressure on inflation, sending many local shares into their lowest level so far this year.
Samsung Electronics and other high-tech stocks stood out with strong gains, buoyed by positive quarterly earnings from their U.S. peers such as Intel. Other exporters also rallied as the won weakened further against the greenback. “Sinking oil prices were a respite for many investors who had been hit hard by the troubles at U.S. mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac,” said Lee Jae-man, an analyst at Tongyang Investment Bank.
The KOSPI index closed up 18.16 points or 1.2 percent at 1,525.56, after rising up to 1,546.84 earlier in the session. The rebound followed a near 4 percent decline over the past three sessions. Volume traded reached 316 million shares worth 4.5 trillion won.
Advancers beat decliners by 553 to 248. The tech-laden KOSDAQ index rose 6.97 points or 1.3 percent to 527.81.
The won fell for a fourth day, losing 0.5 percent on Thursday, as foreign investors’ demand for the greenback to send home proceeds from the sale of local shares outpaced the government’s intervention to prop up the South Korean currency.
The won’s weakness sparked strong buying in major exporters.
Samsung Electronics surged 4.1 percent to 584,000 won and LG Electronics rose 2.8 percent to 110,000 won. Hynix Semiconductor rallied 2.5 percent to 22,200 won.
Hyundai Motor gained 1.6 percent to 68,500 won.
Kookmin Bank rebounded 1.4 percent to 52,500 won after losing nearly 10 percent on Wednesday due to fears that the nation’s top lender may scrap its plan to transform into a financial holding company, which was behind the recent surge in the share price.
Korea Exchange Bank gained 1.6 percent to 12,700 won after Maeil Business Newspaper reported on Thursday that Kookmin Bank was preparing to make a public tender offer for KEB on the assumption that the deal between HSBC and Lone Star would break down.
U.S. private equity firm Lone Star promptly dismissed reports it had discussed the sale of KEB with other parties than planned buyer HSBC, though prospects for the $6.3 billion deal remain uncertain.
($1 = 1,012.80 won) eunkyung.seo@thomsonreuters.com es/ms/es/ms COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Financial News Limited 2008. All rights reserved.
The copying, republication or redistribution of Thomson Financial News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Financial News.
Related posts:
- Taipei shares open higher on Wall St gain
Share prices opened higher following gains on Wall Street, where investors cheered an upward revision in first-quarter US GDP growth... - Philippine shares prices close 0.32% higher
Philippine share prices closed 0.32 percent higher Monday on last-minute buying of blue-chips, dealers said.The composite index added 9.38 points... - Philippine shares close at 6-wk high on Wall St rally
Philippine stocks rose on Wednesday, with the main index ending at a six-week high and outperforming other Asian benchmarks, as...
Comments
Leave a Reply
