Kospi jumps 2.9% on hint of further U.S. rate cuts

The benchmark Kospi jumped 2.9 percent, or 75.25 points, to 2,671.57 on an indication by the U.S. Federal Reserve that more rate cuts may be forthcoming.

A screen in Hana Bank's trading room in central Seoul shows the Kospi closing at 2,671.57 points on Thursday. [NEWS1]

Shares ended nearly 3 percent higher Thursday as tech stocks advanced, with hopes of additional rate cuts by the U.S. Federal Reserve lifting investor sentiment. The won fell against the dollar.

The benchmark Kospi jumped 2.9 percent, or 75.25 points, to 2,671.57.

Trading volume was moderate at 317.46 million shares worth 11.4 trillion won ($8.6 billion), with gainers far outnumbering winners 747 to 140.

Overnight, U.S. stocks ended mixed. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.7 percent to 41,914.75, but the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite rose 0.04 percent to 18,082.21.

On Wednesday, a Federal Reserve official said it will be appropriate for the U.S. central bank to make additional rate cuts if inflation continues to ease as expected, following its first cut of half a percentage point earlier in the month to end its post-pandemic tightening cycle.

Revived foreign appetite for risky assets gave a boost to the local stock market after Micron Technology forecast robust first-quarter revenue, betting on strong demand for its high bandwidth memory chips used by the AI industry, analysts said.

Institutions and foreigners bought a combined 1.28 trillion won worth of stocks, offsetting individuals' stock selling valued at 1.25 trillion won.

In Seoul, tech stocks were lead gainers.

Samsung Electronics jumped 4 percent to 64,700 won, SK hynix surged 9.4 percent to 180,900 won, Hyundai Motor climbed 3 percent to 259,000 won and Korea Electric Power was up 2.6 percent to 20,350 won.

SK hynix shares surged on news that it began volume production of a 12-layer memory chip known as HBM3E, a more advanced version of the current chips for artificial intelligence.

Among decliners, SK Innovation fell 0.6 percent to 120,600 won while Korea Aerospace Industries declined 1.9 percent to 53,200 won and Amorepacific slid 2.6 percent to 146,800 won.

The local currency was trading at 1,327.20 won against the greenback as of 3:30 p.m., down 3.8 won from the previous session's close. The Kosdaq gained 19.88 points, or 2.62 percent, to close at 779.18.

Bond prices, which move inversely to yields, closed mixed. The yield on three-year government bonds fell 0.6 basis points to 2.806 percent, and the return on the benchmark 10-year U.S. government bonds rose 5.6 basis points to 3.785 percent.

BY CHO YONG-JUN, YONHAP [cho.yongjun1@joongang.co.kr]