SEOUL — Seoul shares ended Tuesday on a positive note as investors engaged in bargain hunting, particularly favoring logistics and automobile sectors. The Korean won also appreciated against the U.S. dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose by 9.66 points, marking a 0.35 percent increase to close at 2,774.39.
According to Yonhap News Agency, the market saw a moderate trade volume of 703.6 million shares valued at approximately 11.4 trillion won (US$8.2 billion). Stocks that advanced outnumbered those that declined, with 492 gainers to 375 losers. The trading landscape saw foreign investors selling a net 143.5 billion won and individuals offloading 304 billion won, while institutional investors picked up a net 166 billion won. This domestic purchasing contrasted with international markets where, overnight, the Nasdaq Composite fell by 1.09 percent, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average increased by 0.67 percent. Notably, Nvidia experienced a significant drop of 6.68 percent amid a broader sell-off in technology stocks.
Despite downturns in U.S. markets, Seoul's market resilience was buoyed by sectors such as logistics, where companies like HMM and Hyundai Glovis saw increases of 1.05 percent and 3.65 percent, respectively. Korea Line also saw significant gains, rising 8.15 percent. The automobile sector also performed well, with Hyundai Motor climbing 2.67 percent and Kia up 0.55 percent. Additionally, Hyundai Mobis surged 5.25 percent.
Another notable mover was Namyang Dairy Products, which jumped 3.95 percent following the announcement of a 20 billion won stock buyback program. In the technology sector, Samsung Electronics and SK hynix made modest gains of 0.25 percent and 0.9 percent, respectively. However, chemical stocks like LG Chem and SK Innovation faced declines, falling 1.4 percent and 1.29 percent, respectively.
The day ended with the Korean won strengthening to 1,387.5 won against the U.S. dollar, improving by 1.5 won from the previous session. In bond markets, yields edged higher, with three-year Treasury yields increasing by 0.7 basis points to 3.201 percent and five-year government bond yields rising by 0.2 basis points to 3.217 percent.