Chips stocks drive South Korean shares higher for third session

SEOUL: Round-up of South Korean financial markets:

South Korean shares track Wall Street lower, but set for weekly gain

• South Korean shares rallied for a third straight session on Wednesday, as expectations for a further recovery in domestic chips sector continued to drive the local index higher. The won weakened, while the benchmark bond yield rose.

• The benchmark KOSPI was up 14.68 points, or 0.63%, at 2,627.02, as of 01:47 GMT.

• Among index heavyweights, chipmaker Samsung Electronics rose 1.39% and peer SK Hynix gained 1.11%, while battery maker LG Energy Solution climbed 1.69%.

• Samsung Electronics said it is looking at major deals to drive growth as it faced tough questions from shareholders after its failure to ride an artificial intelligence boom made it one of the worst-performing tech stocks last year.

• SK Hynix said it has shipped its Hbm4 12-Layer samples to customers.

• Hyundai Motor added 1.00% and sister automaker Kia Corp gained 0.41%, while search engine Naver and instant messenger Kakao were up 0.24% and down 1.36%, respectively.

• Of the total 942 traded issues, 428 shares advanced, while 439 declined.

• Foreigners were net buyers of shares worth 175.1 billion won ($120.66 million).

• The won was quoted at 1,451.6 per dollar on the onshore settlement platform, 0.03% lower than its previous close at 1,451.1.

• The KOSPI has risen 9.48% so far this year, and gained 6.5% in the previous 30 trading sessions.

• The won has gained 1.4% against the dollar so far this year.

• In money and debt markets, June futures on three-year treasury bonds fell 0.03 point to 106.81.

• The most liquid three-year Korean treasury bond yield rose by 1.2 basis points to 2.609%, while the benchmark 10-year yield rose by 1.2 basis points to 2.800%.