Home > Business > Finance

Seoul stocks end slightly higher over BOK's improved economic outlook

Published: 28 Aug. 2025, 17:27

A screen in Hana Bank's trading room in central Seoul shows the Kospi closing at 3,196.32 points on Aug. 28, up 9.16 points, or 0.29 percent, from the previous trading session. [NEWS1]

Shares closed slightly higher Thursday as investor confidence benefited from the Bank of Korea (BOK)'s better-than-expected outlook on the economy. The won advanced against the dollar.

The benchmark Kospi added 9.16 points, or 0.29 percent, to a close at 3,196.32.

Trade volume was moderate at 309 million shares worth 9.5 trillion won ($6.8 billion). Winners outnumbered gainers 480 to 383.

Institutional investors purchased a net 326.3 billion won, while foreign investors sold off a net 24.2 billion won of equities. Retail investors also offloaded a net 394 billion won.

The Kospi opened lower, hit by Nvidia's losses in after-hours trading on Wall Street overnight after the chipmaker announced its second quarter earnings results.

But the index later rebounded after the central bank kept Korea's base rate steady at 2.5 percent, while raising the country's economic growth forecast by 0.1 percentage point.

"Comments from the BOK provided positive signals and limited the decline of the Kospi," said Lee Kyoung-min, an analyst from Daishin Securities, suggesting that the improved economic outlook, while a positive factor, apparently wasn't enough to further elevate the Kospi.

In Seoul, finance, defense and shipbuilding shares led gains.

KB Financial Group advanced 0.55 percent to 109,100 won, defense giant Hanwha Aerospace rose 0.11 percent to 908,000 won and HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering jumped 10.55 percent to 408,500 won.

Semiconductor shares closed mixed, with market top cap Samsung Electronics shedding 1.42 percent to 69,600 won, while its rival SK hynix added 3.27 percent to 268,500 won.

The local currency was quoted at 1,387.5 won against the dollar at 3:30 p.m., down 0.63 percent from the previous session's 3:30 p.m. quote of 1,396.3 won.

Bond prices, which move inversely to yields, closed lower. The yield on three-year Treasurys added 1.4 basis points to 2.416 percent, and the return on the benchmark five-year government bonds went up 0.7 basis point to 2.576 percent.

Yonhap