Seoul shares extended gains late Wednesday morning, following advances on Wall Street, with tech stocks’ strong performance as Nvidia Corp. became the world’s most valuable company.
The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) added 28.40 points, or 1.03 percent, to 2,792.32 as of 11:20 a.m.
Overnight, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.2 percent to 38,834.86, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite gained 0.03 percent to 17,862.23.
Nvidia surpassed Microsoft Corp. and Apple Inc. to become the world’s most-valuable publicly traded company for the first time.
Institutions and foreigners bought a combined 327 billion won (US$237 million) worth of stocks, exceeding individuals’ stock selling valued at 280 billion won.
In Seoul, tech and auto stocks led gains.
Market bellwether Samsung Electronics Co. rose 1.8 percent, No. 2 chipmaker SK hynix Inc. climbed 3 percent, top carmaker Hyundai Motor Co. gained 2.3 percent, and leading battery maker LG Energy Solution Ltd. was up 1.4 percent.
Among de
cliners, national flag carrier Korean Air Co. fell 1.6 percent, leading wireless services provider SK Telecom Co. declined 0.6 percent, and leading refiner SK Innovation Co. shed 0.3 percent.
The local currency was trading at 1,379.05 won against the U.S. dollar, up 2.05 won from the previous session’s close.
Source: Yonhap News Agency
