Asian Economic News
South Korean Market Pares Early Gains
11/25/2009 10:25 PM ET
(RTTNews) -
After moving up sharply in morning trades on Thursday, the South Korean stock market has pared its gains with participants pressing sales in key bank stocks. Technology stocks are attracting some strong buying, while shipping and auto stocks are trading mixed.
The benchmark KOSPI index, which moved up to 1,621.2 after a flat start, is currently trading at 1,612, slightly above the unchanged line.
Tech stocks Hynix Semiconductor and LG Electronics are trading stronger by 2.2% and 2.4% respectively. LG Display LCD is up 1.6%, while heavyweight Samsung Electronics is gaining about 0.7%.
Among bank stocks, Woori Finance and Shinhan Financial are trading lower by 1% and 1.8% respectively. Korea Exchange Bank is trading flat, while KB Financial is down with a modest loss.
In the automobile space, Kia Motor is up 0.6% and Hyundai Motor is trading 1.5% up, while Ssangyong Motor is trading flat. Among shipping stocks, Hyundai Heavy Industries and Daewoo Shipbuilding are trading modestly higher, while Samsung Heavy Industries and STX Pan Ocean are down with marginal losses.
Steel stocks Hyundai Steel and POSCO are up with notable gains. Oil and telecom stocks are trading mixed. Among airliners, Korean Air is up 2.5% and Asiana Airlines is up with a modest gain.
Among other markets in the Asia-Pacific region, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Singapore and Indonesia are trading notably lower. Australia, New Zealand and Japan are trading flat, while Taiwan is up modestly. Markets across the region had closed mostly higher on Wednesday.
On Wall Street, stocks shrugged off early weakness and moved higher on Wednesday on some upbeat economic data. Better-than-expected increase in new home sales, a sharp decline in jobless claims in November and the upward revision to pace of order growth in September aided sentiment. However, stocks failed to sustain the upward move as traders appeared reluctant to continue buying stocks ahead of the Thanksgiving Day holiday.
The major averages moved roughly sideways in late day trading, ending the session modestly higher. The Dow closed up 30.7 points or 0.3% at 10,464.4, the Nasdaq rose 6.9 points or 0.3% to 2,176 and the S&P 500 moved up by about 5 points or 0.5% to 1,110.6.
Major European markets ended higher on Wednesday. While U.K.'s FTSE 100 index ended higher by 0.8%, the French CAC 40 index and the German DAX index gained 0.7% and 0.6% respectively.
Crude oil prices surged toward US$78 per barrel on Wednesday, boosted by a weaker dollar and smaller-than-expected build in weekly inventories. Light sweet crude for January rallied to US$77.97 per barrel, up US$1.94 on the session.
by RTT Staff Writer
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