S.Korean stocks close higher for fourth session as Samsung Elec shines

Kakao

08/01/2025 07:05

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      KOSPI rises, foreigners net buyers
    

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      Korean won weakens against dollar
    

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      South Korea benchmark bond yield falls
    

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      For the midday report, please click  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N3O4020
    

  
       SEOUL, Jan 8 (Reuters) - Round-up of South Korean
financial markets:
    
** South Korean shares ended higher on Wednesday for the fourth
session, boosted by gains in Samsung Electronics after Nvidia
CEO Jensen Huang expressed confidence that the Asian company
could develop a new design on high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips.
** The won weakened, while the benchmark bond yield fell.
** The benchmark KOSPI  .KS11  closed up 28.95 points, or 1.16%,
at 2,521.05.
    
** Two local FX swap dealers said they suspect the National
Pension Service is selling dollar-won forwards as part of its
strategic currency hedging, a move that is helping to support
the won.
        
** "Sizable amount of flow from pension is out in the market for
6-month and 1-year tenures," one of them said, requesting
anonymity as they are not authorised to speak to media.
         
** Among index heavyweights, chipmaker Samsung Electronics
 005930.KS  rose 3.43% and peer SK Hynix  000660.KS  lost 0.15%,
while battery maker LG Energy Solution  373220.KS  climbed
2.19%.
    
** Nvidia's  NVDA.O  Huang told reporters in Las Vegas on
Tuesday that South Korea's Samsung has to "engineer a new
design" to supply HBM chips to his company, adding that "they
can do it and they are working very fast," Korea JoongAng Daily
reported.    
    
** Hyundai Motor  005380.KS  added 1.18% and sister automaker
Kia Corp  000270.KS  gained 1.92%, while search engine Naver
 035420.KS  and instant messenger Kakao  035720.KS  were down
0.48% and 3.23%, respectively.
    
** Of the total 943 traded issues, 460 shares advanced, while
411 declined.
    
** Foreigners were net buyers of shares worth 201.6 billion won
on the main board on Wednesday.
    
** The won was quoted at 1,455.0 per dollar on the onshore
settlement platform  KRW=KFTC , 0.14% lower than its previous
close at 1,453.0.
    
** The most liquid three-year Korean treasury bond yield
 KR3YT=RR  rose by 0.3 basis point to 2.511%, while the
benchmark 10-year yield  KR10YT=RR  fell 1 basis point to
2.799%.
    

 (Reporting by Seunggyu Lim and Cynthia Kim; Editing by Sherry
Jacob-Phillips)
 ((Cynthia.Kim@thomsonreuters.com; 822 3704 5655; Reuters
Messaging: cynthia.kim.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))