Market rebounds as auto, financial shares advance

Stocks rose Monday as tensions in the Middle East eased. Financial and auto shares led gains while tech shares retreated following Nvidia's recent plunge.

A screen in Hana Bank's trading room in central Seoul shows the Kospi closing at 2,629.44 points on Monday, up 1.45 percent, or 37.58 points, from the previous trading session. [YONHAP]

Stocks rose more than 1.4 percent Monday after last week's market decline as financial, auto and other blue chips advanced amid eased tensions in the Middle East. The won gained value against the dollar.

The benchmark Kospi climbed 37.58 points, or 1.45 percent, to close at 2,629.44.

Trade volume was moderate at 389 million shares worth 10.85 trillion won ($7.86 billion), with winners outpacing gainers 659 to 226.

Lee Kyung-min, an analyst at Daishin Securities, said “market anxiety has apparently passed its peak,” and added that “the market is expected to find its footing this week following recent excessive concerns over the U.S. monetary policy direction.”

Financial stocks led the overall bullish market, with KB Financial Group surging 9.11 percent to 69,500 won and Shinhan Financial Group soaring 6.11 percent to 44,300 won.

Automakers advanced as well, with Hyundai Motor and Kia rising 4.26 percent to 245,000 won and 115,100 won, respectively.

Hyundai Mobis climbed 1.92 percent to 239,000 won.

Bio shares also gained strong momentum, with Celltrion rising 3.35 percent to 178,700 won and Samsung Biologics advancing 2.69 percent to 802,000 won.

Battery makers gathered ground, with LG Energy Solution rising 3.13 percent to 378,500 won and Samsung SDI moving up 5.11 percent to 421,500 won. Posco Future M surged 9.27 percent to 277,000 won.

LG Chem rose 2.02 percent to 378,000 won and Samsung C&T gained 6.66 percent to 147,400 won.

Steelmakers gathered ground as well, with Posco Holdings rising 2.20 percent to 395,000 won.

Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance soared 8.29 percent to 300,500 won.

Tech shares, meanwhile, retreated following Nvidia's plunge last week.

Samsung Electronics slumped 1.93 percent to 76,100 won, and SK hynix sank 0.98 percent to 171,600 won.

HYBE fell 7.81 percent to 212,500 won.

Hanwha Aerospace sank 5.98 percent to 220,000 won, and Hanmi Semiconductor Company plummeted 6.82 percent to 127,100 won.

The local currency ended at 1,379.2 won against the greenback, down 3 won from the previous session's close.

The Kosdaq gained 3.91 points, or 0.46 percent, to close at 845.82.

Bond prices, which move inversely to yields, closed mixed. The yield on three-year government bonds gained 4.4 basis points to 3.513 percent, and the return on benchmark U.S. 10-year government bonds fell 0.5 basis points to 4.622 percent.

BY KIM JI-YE, YONHAP [kim.jiye@joongang.co.kr]