Stocks close higher Monday following Wall Street gains

Stocks closed higher Monday tracking Wall Street gains on Friday and signs of inflation slowing down in the United States. The won rose against the dollar.

Screens in Hana Bank's trading room in central Seoul show the Kospi closing at 2,602.47 points on Thursday, down 1.49 percent, or 38.19 points, from the previous trading session. [YONHAP]

Stocks closed higher Monday tracking Wall Street gains on Friday and signs of inflation slowing down in the United States. The won rose against the dollar.

The Kospi gained 38.19 points, or 1.49 percent, to close at 2,602.47. The benchmark index finished above 2,600 in almost two weeks.

Trading volume was moderate at 607.3 million shares worth 8.86 trillion won ($6.77 billion), with gainers outnumbering decliners 606 to 269.

The U.S. personal consumption expenditures (PCE) index, a reading on inflation, rose 3.8 percent in May, a marked drop from a 4.3 percent rise in April, the U.S. Commerce Department data showed, in a sign that inflation is cooling.

The core PCE, which excludes volatile food and energy, inched down to 0.3 percent from 0.4 percent in the same period.

Wall Street rallied Friday with all three indexes closing higher, and Apple reached its $3 trillion market valuation for the first time.

In Seoul, large-cap stocks led the Kospi's rise.

Samsung Electronics gained 1.11 percent to 73,000 won, and SK hynix climbed 2.08 percent to 117,600 won.

Battery makers jumped after a report that said Tesla delivered a better-than-expected number of cars last quarter.

LG Energy Solution shot up 3.62 percent to 573,000 won, and Samsung SDI spiked 7.17 percent to 717,000 won.

Steel and energy companies closed in the green. Posco Holdings advanced 3.61 percent to 402,000 won, and Posco Future M jumped 4.53 percent to 369,000 won.

SK Innovation closed up 3.15 percent to 163,500 won.

Bio stocks ended lower. Samsung Biologics shed 0.13 percent to 743,000 won, and SK Bioscience fell 0.88 percent to 78,800 won.

Mobile carriers also fell, with SK Telecom declining 0.54 percent to 46,350 won and KT shrinking 0.17 percent to 29,750 won.

The local currency ended at 1,308.00 won against the dollar, down 9.7 won from Friday's close.

Bond prices, which move inversely to yields, closed higher. The yield on three-year government bonds lost 5.3 basis points to 3.621 percent, and the yield on benchmark 10-year government bonds dropped 0.3 basis points to 3.842 percent.

BY SOHN DONG-JOO,YONHAP [sohn.dongjoo@joongang.co.kr]