Stocks finish up Wednesday with automakers, banks leading gains

Stocks finished up Wednesday, as automakers, battery materials companies and banks led the market gains. The local currency fell against the dollar.

A screen in Hana Bank's trading room in central Seoul shows the Kospi closing at 2,575.08 points on Wednesday, up 0.16 percent, or 3.99 points, from the previous trading day. [YONHAP]

Stocks finished up Wednesday, as automakers, battery materials companies and banks led the market gains. The local currency fell against the dollar.

The Kospi added 3.99 points, or 0.16 percent, to close at 2,575.08.

Trading volume was high at 933 million shares worth 12.4 trillion won ($9.4 billion), with gainers outnumbering losers 596 to 276.

Institutions bought a net 455 billion won worth of stocks, while foreigners and retail investors offloaded stocks valued at a net 573 billion won.

Overnight, Wall Street closed little changed as investors weighed earnings reports from some large U.S. banks and hawkish comments by Fed officials who favor continued rate hikes to tame inflation.

Investors are awaiting the release of the Federal Reserve's Beige Book on Wednesday and more comments from Fed officials for insights on the U.S. central bank's monetary tightening.

In Seoul, leading carmaker Hyundai Motor rose 1.15 percent to close at 193,600 won, and its smaller affiliate Kia advanced 3.26 percent to 85,400 won. Hyundai Mobis, an auto parts affiliate of Hyundai Motor Group, went up 0.89 percent to 227,000 won.

Posco Future M, steel giant Posco Holding's components-making unit, spiked 8.38 percent to 414,000 won, continuing its recent winning streak on rosy business prospects.

Financial stocks also helped support the index, with major banking firm KB Financial adding 2.17 percent to 49,450 won and Shinhan Financial climbing 1.13 percent to 35,650 won.

Market bellwether Samsung Electronics shed 0.15 percent to 65,500 won, while No. 2 chipmaker SK hynix climbed 0.68 percent to 88,200 won. LG Chem lost 4.24 percent to 790,000 won.

The local currency ended at 1,325.7 won against the dollar, up 7.1 won from the previous session's close.

The Kosdaq gained 0.18 points, or 0.02 percent, to close at 909.20.

Bond prices, which move inversely to yields, closed mixed. The yield on three-year government bonds rose 3.9 basis points to 3.333 percent, and the return on the benchmark 10-year government bonds fell 2.9 basis points to 3.576 percent.

BY SEO JI-EUN, YONHAP [seo.jieun1@joongang.co.kr]