Shares end losing streak to lift more than 1 percent

Shares rose more than 1.1 percent Tuesday to end a three-day losing streak thanks to sharp gains in big-cap tech and bio shares. The local currency gained ground against the dollar.

Screens in Hana Bank's trading room in central Seoul show the Kospi closing at 2,383.51 points on Tuesday, up 1.12 percent, or 26.49 points, from the previous trading session. [YONHAP]

Shares rose more than 1.1 percent Tuesday to end a three-day losing streak thanks to sharp gains in big-cap tech and bio shares. The local currency gained ground against the dollar.

The Kospi added 26.49 points, or 1.12 percent, to close at 2,383.51.

Trading volume was a little slim at 437.5 million shares worth 7.8 trillion won ($5.8 billion), with gainers outnumbering losers 630 to 249.

Foreigners dumped a net 154.3 billion won worth of local shares, while retail investors and institutions purchased 71.4 billion won and 35.4 billion won worth of shares, respectively.

Overnight, Wall Street ended mixed as U.S. Treasury yields dropped after hitting 5 percent and investors awaited earnings reports from tech giants, including Microsoft, Alphabet and Amazon later this week.

In Seoul, big-cap tech and bio shares led the gain.

Samsung Electronics inched up 0.15 percent to 68,500 won and SK hynix gained 2.26 percent to 126,800 won.

LG Energy Solution jumped 2.75 percent to 448,500 won, Samsung SDI added 1.27 percent to 480,000 won and Posco Future M went up 1.16 percent to 305,000 won.

Bio and IT shares were bullish.

Samsung Biologics soared 5.43 percent to 738,000 won and Celltrion shot up 6.76 percent after its shareholders approved a merger plan with its affiliate Celltrion Healthcare the previous day.

Naver also jumped 4.88 percent to 187,000 won after it announced it won a project to create a digital twin platform for cities in Saudi Arabia and Kakao advanced 4.35 percent to 39,600 won.

Posco Holdings added 4.64 percent to 474,000 won and LG Chem rose 2.29 percent to 492,000 won.

But auto shares were weak.

Hyundai Motor lost 1.4 percent to 182,800 won, Kia dropped 1.08 percent to 82,100 won and Hyundai Mobis dipped 0.23 percent to 217,500 won.

The local currency ended at 1,343.10 won against the dollar, down 10.6 won from the previous session's close.

Bond prices, which move inversely to yields, closed higher. The yield on three-year government bonds decreased 4.7 basic points to 4.01 percent, and the return on the benchmark U.S. 10-year government bond fell 7.8 basic points to 4.85 percent.

BY KIM JU-YEON, YONHAP [kim.juyeon2@joongang.co.kr]