Stocks rise following an expected quarter point rate increase

Stocks closed higher Thursday after the Bank of Korea delivered a modest 25-basis point rate hike, as the economy shows signs of losing momentum. The won sharply rose against the dollar.

A screen in Hana Bank's trading room in central Seoul shows the Kospi closing at 2,441.33 points on Thursday, up 23.32 points, or 0.96 percent, from the previous trading day. [YONHAP]

Stocks closed higher Thursday after the Bank of Korea delivered a modest 25-basis point rate hike, as the economy shows signs of losing momentum. The won sharply rose against the dollar.

The benchmark Kospi gained 23.32 points, or 0.96 percent, to close at 2,441.33, extending its winning streak for a second session.

Trading volume was moderate at 466.1 million shares worth 6.28 trillion won ($ 4.7 billion), with gainers far outnumbering losers 670 to 194.

Foreigners bought a net 127.0 billion worth of shares and institutional investors a net 66.2 billion won, while retail investors offloaded a net 217.7 billion won.

The market opened higher, tracking overnight Wall Street gains boosted by a dovish stance by U.S. Federal Reserve officials shown in the minutes from their November meeting that they might soon slow down rate increases while avoiding hurting economic growth too much.

Earlier in the day, the Bank of Korea raised its policy rate by a quarter percentage point to tame persistently high inflation. But it slowed the pace of monetary tightening amid worries over high borrowing costs and their impact on economic growth.

Most large-cap shares in Seoul closed up.

Samsung Electronics edged up 0.66 percent to end at 61,400 won, and SK hynix rose 2 percent at 86,900 won.

Hyundai Motor added 0.9 percent at 167,500 won, while its affiliate Kia inched down 0.6 percent at 65,900 won.

LG Chem advanced 3.85 percent at 728,000 won.

LG Energy Solution climbed 1.25 percent at 568,000 won, and Samsung Biologics went up 0.9 percent at 896,000 won.

Kakao rose 3.05 percent to close at 57,400 won and Naver also added 3.58 percent at 188,000 won.

The local currency closed at 1,328.20 won against the dollar, down 23.6 won from the previous session's close.

The Kosdaq increased 12.63 points, or 1.74 percent, to close at 738.22 points.

Bond prices, which move inversely to yields, closed higher. The yield on three-year government bonds lost 17.2 basis points to 3.687 percent, and the yield on 10-year government bonds fell 16.0 basis points to 3.623 percent.

BY CHO JUNG-WOO, YONHAP [cho.jungwoo1@joongang.co.kr]