South Korea's KOSPI recoups losses with SK Hynix-led tech rally

LG Energy Solution

Thu 05:46

KOSPI rises, foreigners net sellers
Korean won weakens against dollar
South Korea benchmark bond yield falls
SEOUL, June 25 (Reuters) - South Korea’s benchmark stock index continued its recovery for a second session on Thursday, as investors rushed back into the market following a historic heavyweight tech rout earlier in the week.
The benchmark KOSPI .KS11 rose 466.67 points, or 5.51%, at 8,937.69 as of 04:18 GMT.
It has now risen 9% over two sessions so far. Tuesday's nearly 10% drop was the steepest since March this year.
The moves underscore the volatile tug-of-war between anxiety over rising interest rates and opportunistic dip-buying in Korean tech shares.
Among index heavyweights, chipmaker Samsung Electronics 005930.KS rose 4.99%, while peer SK Hynix 000660.KS gained 12.17%, tracking a rally in U.S. chip stocks after Micron's earnings and outlook reinforced confidence in the memory sector. .N
Hyundai Motor 005380.KS and sister automaker Kia Corp 000270.KS were down 0.59% and up 1.15%, respectively. Steelmaker POSCO Holdings 005490.KS shed 2.26%, while drugmaker Samsung BioLogics 207940.KS rose 0.94%.
Of the total 915 traded issues, 402 shares advanced, while 475 declined.
The KOSPI is now up 112.09% so far this year, the world's best-performing equity index, thanks to phenomenal demand for chips at Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix.
The won was quoted at 1,546.2 per dollar on the onshore settlement platform KRW=KFTC, 0.23% weaker than its previous close at 1,542.7.
In offshore trading, the won KRW= was quoted at 1,546.4 per dollar, down 0.3% on the day, while in non-deliverable forward trading its one-month contract KRW1MNDFOR= was quoted at 1,545.7.

(Reporting by Cynthia Kim; Editing by Harikrishnan Nair)
((Cynthia.Kim@thomsonreuters.com; 822 3704 5655; Reuters Messaging: cynthia.kim.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net/))