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Kospi jumps 1.12% on possible slowdown in Fed rate cuts

Published: 23 Oct. 2024, 17:56 Updated: 23 Oct. 2024, 19:34

CHO YONG-JUN
[email protected]

A screen in Hana Bank's trading room in central Seoul shows the Kospi closing at 2,599.62 points on Wednesday, up 1.12 percent, or 28,92 points, from the previous trading session. [YONHAP]

Shares closed higher on Wednesday due to a possible slowdown in the pace of rate cuts by the U.S. Federal Reserve. The Korean won continued to slip against the dollar.

The benchmark Kospi rose 28.92 points, or 1.12 percent, to close at 2,599.62. The Kosdaq rose 6.85 points, or 0.93 percent, to close at 745.19.

Trade volume was moderate at 345.96 million shares worth 9.25 trillion won ($6.7 billion), with gainers outpacing losers 448 to 408.

Institutions and foreigners bought a combined 510 billion won worth of stocks, offsetting individuals' stock selling valued at 514 billion won.

Overnight, U.S. stocks ended mixed. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.02 percent to 42,924.89, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite rose 0.18 percent to 18,573.13.

In Seoul, large-cap stocks were mixed.

Samsung Electronics rose 2.4 percent to 59,100 won while SK hynix jumped 4.4 percent to 196,000 won.

Hyundai Motor climbed 2.8 percent to 241,000 won and the Korea Electric Power Corporation gained 0.7 percent to 21,950 won.

Among decliners, Korean Air fell 1.1 percent to 23,300 won, HMM declined 0.6 percent to 17,050 won and SK Telecom was down 1.4 percent to 56,700 won.

Entertainment shares were mixed. YG Entertainment rose 2.96 percent to 41,700 won, JYP Entertainment climbed 2.96 percent to 41,700 won and SM Entertainment jumped 2.58 percent to 71,600 won, while HYBE fell 1.12 percent to 193,800 won.

Kakao shares rose by 0.94 percent to 37,700 won and Naver increased by 0.76 percent to 172,500 won.

Game publisher NCsoft shares surged 7.23 percent to 210,500 won.

The local currency was trading at 1,382.2 won against the greenback at 3:30 p.m., up 2.1 won from the previous session.

Bond prices, which move inversely to yields, closed mixed. The yield on three-year government bonds fell 0.9 basis points to 2.93 percent, and the return on the benchmark 10-year U.S. government bonds increased 0.8 basis points to 4.21 percent.

BY CHO YONG-JUN, YONHAP [[email protected]]