Stocks rise for a third day as individuals lead buying

Shares ended higher Tuesday to extend their winning streak to a third day as auto and technology stocks advanced on bargain hunting, with investors keeping an eye on U.S. economic data and Federal Reserve policy.

A screen in Hana Bank's trading room in central Seoul shows the Kospi closing at 2,422.09 points on Monday, up 20.17 points, or 0.84 percent, from the previous trading day. [YONHAP]

Shares ended higher Tuesday to extend their winning streak to a third day as auto and technology stocks advanced on bargain hunting, with investors keeping an eye on U.S. economic data and Federal Reserve policy.

The local currency rose against the dollar.

The Kospi rose 20.17 points, or 0.84 percent, to close at 2,422.09.

Trading volume was moderate at 555.34 million shares worth 7.03 trillion won ($5.4 billion), with gainers outpacing decliners 598 to 262.

Individuals bought a net 106.0 billion won worth of stocks, while institutions sold 88.4 billion won worth of stocks and foreigners offloaded a net 35.4 billion won.

Investors now await a cue from the first-quarter U.S. economic growth data and U.S. monthly consumer confidence index to be released this week, analysts said.

The data will come as the Fed recently raised its policy rate by 0.75 percentage point to tame inflation, which is running at a 40-year high.

In Seoul, tech, auto and airline stocks led gains.

Samsung Electronics rose 1 percent to 59,400 won, and chipmaker SK hynix climbed 0.3 percent to 95,300 won. Hyundai Motor gained 1.6 percent to 186,000 won, and Korean Air Lines was up 0.6 percent to 25,400 won.

Among decliners, state-run utility Korea Electric Power Corp. fell 3.7 percent to 22,000 won, and cosmetics firm Amorepacific shed 0.8 percent to 132,500 won.

Kakao lost 0.28 percent to 71,600 won, while LG Energy Solution fell 0.36 percent to 410,500 won.

Game maker NCSoft also shed 4.55 percent to 398,500 won.

Samsung Biologics gained 1.12 percent to 815,000 won.

The local currency ended at 1,283.40 won against the dollar, down 3.10 won from the previous session's close.

The Kosdaq lost 1.09 points, or 0.14 percent, to close at 769.51 points.

Bond prices, which move inversely to yields, closed mixed. The yield on three-year government bonds lost 3,1 basis points to 3.539 percent, and the yield on the benchmark 10-year government bond advanced 7.4 basis points to 3.20 percent.

BY LIM JEONG-WON, YONHAP [lim.jeongwon@joongang.co.kr]