Stocks surge 1% as U.S. job data calm recession fears

Stocks surged over 1% on Friday as U.S. job data calmed recession fears, lifting the Kospi by 1.24%.

A screen in Hana Bank's trading room in central Seoul shows the Kospi closing at 2,588.43 points on Friday, up 1.24 percent, or 31.7 points, from the previous trading session. The Kosdaq rose 2.57 percent, or 19.15 points, to 764.43. [YONHAP]

Stocks finished more than 1 percent higher Friday with investor sentiment boosted by better-than-expected recent U.S. job data, soothing recent recession fears that had rocked global financial markets. The local currency gained against the U.S. dollar.

The Kospi added 31.7 points, or 1.24 percent, to close at 2,588.43.

Trade volume was moderate at 464.3 million shares worth 9.5 trillion won ($6.96 billion), with gainers largely outnumbering decliners 698 to 202.

Institutions led the rally, scooping up 33.5 billion won worth of shares, while foreigners sold a net 7.4 billion won and individuals dumped a net 27.2 billion won.

The Kospi lost nearly 9 percent on Monday, marking its steepest daily loss in 16 years since the 2008 financial crisis, as fears of a U.S. recession spread across the globe. It rebounded Tuesday and Wednesday, led by tech gains, but fell again on Thursday on lingering slowdown woes.

Overnight, the latest unemployment data pushed up U.S. stock indexes, calming recession fears that had caused the global rout.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.76 percent, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite jumped 2.87 percent.

In Seoul, most shares ended in positive territory.

Tech companies led the rally as Samsung Electronics rose 1.77 percent to 74,700 won, and SK hynix jumped 4.96 percent to 171,500 won.

Carmaker Hyundai Motor leapt 2.75 percent to 243,000 won, and its affiliate Kia edged up 0.3 percent to 101,900 won.

Oil refinery SK Innovation climbed 3.38 percent to 101,000 won, and LG Chem advanced 3.44 percent to 286,000 won.

Online portal operator Naver soared 0.61 percent to 163,700 won on a strong second quarter earnings report.

But its rival Kakao fell 3.77 percent to 37,000 won after its founder, Kim Beom-su, was indicted on stock manipulation charges related to its takeover of SM Entertainment.

Entertainment shares were mixed as CJ ENM dropped 1.02 percent to 77,800 won, and HYBE sank 6.31 percent to 172,200 won.

The local currency was trading at 1,364.6 won against the dollar as of 3:30 p.m., down 12.6 won from the previous session.

Bond prices, which move inversely to yields, closed lower. The yield on three-year government bonds fell 3.4 basis points to 2.941 percent, and the return on the benchmark U.S. 10-year bonds fell 4.3 basis points to 3.993 percent.

BY YOON SEUNG-JIN, YONHAP [yoon.seungjin@joongang.co.kr]