Seoul shares up on chip gains, US ceasefire extension
South Korean stocks rose on Thursday, led by gains in large-cap technology shares, as investors focused on corporate earnings following the United States' indefinite extension of its ceasefire in the conflict with Iran.
The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) gained 48.04 points, or 0.75 per cent, to 6,465.97 as of 11:20 am (local time), reports Yonhap news agency.
The index opened 1.1 percent higher, tracking overnight gains on Wall Street, and briefly surpassed the 6,500-point level for the first time ever before trimming some of its earlier gains.
The gains came after U.S. President Donald Trump announced a decision to extend a two-week ceasefire with Iran indefinitely, following stalled peace talks between the two sides aimed at ending the conflict.
Big-cap tech shares gathered ground. Market bellwether Samsung Electronics surged 2.76 percent, while chip giant SK hynix rose 0.08 percent after reporting record revenue and profits for the first quarter, driven by strong demand for high bandwidth memory (HBM) and other memory segments.
Artificial intelligence investment firm SK Square climbed 0.83 percent, and nuclear power plant builder Doosan Enerbility jumped 4.83 percent.
But leading battery maker LG Energy Solution sank 3.41 percent, and defense giant Hanwha Aerospace dipped 0.14 percent.
Top automaker Hyundai Motor fell 0.65 percent ahead of the announcement of its quarterly report, while its sister affiliate Kia gained 0.06 percent.
Bio giant Samsung Biologics declined 0.77 percent, while Celltrion added 0.25 percent.
Leading financial firm KB Financial fell 0.06 percent, and major steelmaker POSCO went down 1.55 percent.
Shipbuilders opened lower. Leading shipbuilder HD Hyundai Heavy dropped 0.78 percent, while its rival Hanwha Ocean drifted 0.59 percent.
The local currency was trading at 1,481.5 won against the greenback at 11:20 a.m., down 5.5 won from the previous session, amid surging global oil prices.
