Kospi snaps 5-day losing streak on large-cap gains

Stocks closed higher Wednesday to mark the first daily gain since Aug. 2 as investors kept up hopes for an end of the Federal Reserve's rate-hike campaign. The won stayed unchanged against the dollar.

A screen in Hana Bank's trading room in central Seoul shows the Kospi closing at 2,605.12 points on Wednesday, up 1.21 percent, or 31.14 points, from the previous trading session. [NEWS1]

Stocks closed higher Wednesday to mark the first daily gain since Aug. 2 as investors kept up hopes for an end of the Federal Reserve's rate-hike campaign. The won stayed unchanged against the dollar.

The benchmark Kospi added 31.14 points, or 1.21 percent, to 2,605.12. Trading volume was slim at 460.8 million shares worth 10.2 trillion won ($7.75 billion), with gainers outnumbering losers 563 to 322.

Foreigners scooped up a net 353.6 billion won worth of local shares, while institutions dumped a net 292.4 billion won.

Overnight, Wall Street suffered a decline in its three major stock indices due to concerns over the health of the U.S. economy after 10 local banks had their credit ratings cut by Moody's.

But investors in Seoul focused on Philadelphia Federal Reserve President Patrick Harker's comments on Tuesday that the central bank could end interest rate hikes.

"The Kospi was affected by negative factors the previous day, but it rebounded today thanks to positive news like the possible end of the rate-hike cycle," Shinhan Securities analyst Choi Yu-joon said.

The U.S. central bank has taken a hawkish approach since March last year, raising the key rate to a range of 5.25-5.5 percent, the highest in more than 22 years.

In Seoul, most large-cap stocks finished higher to drive the Kospi up.

Samsung Electronics rose 1.92 percent to 68,900 won and LG Electronics grew 2.25 percent to 104,700 won.

Hyundai Motor climbed 0.53 percent to 189,400 won and Kia went up 0.77 percent to 78,900 won.

Battery shares were among the biggest winners, LG Energy Solution soaring 5.33 percent to 553,000 won and Samsung SDI jumping 3.26 percent to 634,000 won.

Naver increased 2.02 percent to 227,500 won and Kakao grew 1.93 percent to 52,800 won.

The local currency ended at 1,315.7 won against the dollar, unchanged from the previous session's close.

Bond prices, which move inversely to yields, closed mixed. The yield on three-year government bonds advanced 2.3 basis points to 3.67 percent, and the yield on the benchmark 10-year government bonds shed 5.8 basis points to 4.031 percent.

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