Positive investor sentiment fuels Kospi upward surge

Stocks finished nearly 1 percent up Thursday as hopes for a possible U.S. rate cut boosted investor sentiment here. The local currency sharply rose to an almost two-month high against the dollar.

A screen in Hana Bank's trading room in central Seoul shows the Kospi closing at 2,753 points on Friday, up 0.83 percent, or 22.66 points, from the previous trading session. [NEWS1]

Stocks finished nearly 1 percent up Thursday as hopes for a possible U.S. rate cut boosted investor sentiment here. The local currency sharply rose to an almost two-month high against the dollar.

The Kospi added 22.66 points, or 0.83 percent, to 2,753, after reaching an intraday high of 2,773.46 points.

Trade volume was moderate at 510.3 million shares worth 13 trillion won ($9.66 billion), with gainers outpacing decliners 531 to 345.

Foreign investors and institutions scooped up a net 426.4 billion won and 593.1 billion won in local shares, respectively, offsetting a net sale of 964.9 billion won by individuals.

Overnight, data showed U.S. consumer prices rose by a slower-than-expected 0.3 percent in April from a month earlier and 3.4 percent from a year ago. The moderated inflation fueled optimism that the Federal Reserve would lower key rates later this year.

Celebrating the data, Wall Street's main indices finished at record highs, as the Nasdaq composite added 1.4 percent to its own record and the Dow Jones gained 0.9 percent to an all-time high.

Analysts said the mild U.S. inflation increased the appetite for risky assets, resulting in an inflow of foreign capital to the Korean stock market.

In Seoul, most shares finished in positive territory across the board.

SK hynix jumped 4.16 percent to 193,000 won, and LG Electronics gained 0.51 percent to 98,800 won.

HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering rose 1.32 percent to 137,700 won, and chemical firm OCI climbed 0.53 percent to 95,600 won.

HYBE edged up 0.26 percent to 194,000 won after becoming the first K-pop agency to be put on the chaebol watchlist by the Korean antitrust watchdog.

Game publisher Krafton rose 0.58 percent to 258,500 won.

SK Telecom fell 1.52 percent to 52,000 won, while KT rose 3.15 percent to 37,700 won.

However, Samsung Electronics fell 0.13 percent to 78,200 won, and LG Energy Solution dropped 1.04 percent to 381,500 won.

The local currency ended at 1,345 won against the dollar, down 24.1 won from the previous session's close, the highest since March 28, when the currency finished at 1,339.5 won.

The Kosdaq gained 8.22 points, or 0.95 percent, to close at 870.37.

Bond prices, which move inversely to yields, closed higher. The yield on three-year government bonds fell 8 basis points to 3.374 percent, and the return on benchmark U.S. 10-year government bonds dropped 9.8 basis points to 4.341 percent.

BY CHOI HAE-JIN, YONHAP [choi.haejin@joongang.co.kr]