Round-up of South Korean financial markets: ** South Korean shares rose to a record on Thursday, resuming trading after a three-day holiday, with a tech-led rebound on Wall Street buoying investor sentiment. Meanwhile, the won weakened, and the benchmarkbond yieldrose. ** The benchmarkKOSPIclosed up 170.24 points, or 3.09%, at 5,677.25.
** Among index heavyweights, chipmaker Samsung Electronics rose 4.86%, while peer SK Hynix gained 1.59%. Battery maker LG Energy Solution climbed 2.15%. ** Hyundai Motor and sister automaker Kia Corp were up 2.81% and 3.60%, respectively. Steelmaker POSCO Holdings added 3.60%, while drugmaker Samsung BioLogics rose 0.58%. ** A South Korean court sentenced former President Yoon Suk Yeol to life in prison for leading an insurrection during his botched attempt to place the country under martial law in December 2024. ** Programme trading was halted for five minutes on the junior Kosdaq index as the Korea Exchange activated sidecar, a stock market circuit breaker system, after Kosdaq 150 futures jumped 6%. ** Wall Street ended higher on Wednesday, lifted by gains in Nvidia, Amazon and other technology-related heavyweights following recent jitters about artificial intelligence.
** Of the total 927 traded issues, 668 shares advanced, while 233 declined.
** Foreigners were net sellers of shares worth 923.3 billion won.
** The won was quoted at 1,445.6 per dollar on the onshore settlement platform, 0.07% lower than its previous close at 1,444.6. ** The KOSPI has risen 34.72% so far this year; the won has weakened 0.4% against the dollar.
** In money and debt markets, March futures on three-year treasury bonds lost 0.10 point to 105.02.
** The most liquid three-year Korean treasury bond yield rose by 3.5 basis points to 3.177%, while the benchmark 10-year yield rose by 0.3 basis point to 3.580%.
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