South Korean shares hit record high on chip rally
South Korean shares hit record high on chip rally SEOUL, June 18 (Reuters) - Round-up of South Korean financial markets:
** South Korean shares rose for a sixth straight session on Thursday, hitting an all-time high as chipmakers jumped on AI optimism.
** The benchmark KOSPI .KS11 was up 55.12 points, or 0.62%, at 8,919.36 as of 0127 GMT.
** Earlier in the session, the index rose as much as 1.27% to hit a record high of 8,976.55, surpassing the previous peak of 8,933.62 set on June 2, but pared gains before breaching the key 9,000 level.
** SK Hynix 000660.KS gained 3.29% to an all-time high, after the chipmaker said it had shipped samples of its latest high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips to major customers. Peer Samsung Electronics 005930.KS rose 0.87%.
** Apple AAPL.O plans to raise prices on its products to offset increasing memory and storage chip costs, CEO Tim Cook told the Wall Street Journal in an interview.
** Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh opened a new era of U.S. monetary policy on Wednesday, with officials agreeing to leave interest rates unchanged despite inflation stuck well above their target.
** South Korea's finance minister said authorities would closely monitor market volatility and take stabilising measures if needed. The Bank of Korea also said it would watch closely.
** Among other index heavyweights, battery maker LG Energy Solution 373220.KS slid 3.37%, while Hyundai Motor 005380.KS and sister automaker Kia Corp 000270.KS were down 1.70% and down 3.07%, respectively.
** Of the 914 issues traded, 127 shares advanced, while 769 declined.
** Foreigners were net sellers of shares worth 892.0 billion won ($585.45 million).
** The won was quoted at 1,525.0 per dollar on the onshore settlement platform KRW=KFTC, 0.62% lower than its previous close at 1,515.5.
** The most liquid three-year Korean treasury bond yield KR3YT=RR rose by 3.8 basis points to 3.743%, while the benchmark 10-year yield KR10YT=RR rose by 2.3 basis points to 4.100%.
($1 = 1,523.6200 won)
(Reporting by Jihoon Lee; Editing by Rashmi Aich)