The South Korean stock market is trading higher on Thursday with bank, technology and automobile stocks surging ahead on strong buying interest.
The benchmark KOSPI index, which surged to 1,777.4, is currently up 13 points or 0.75% at 1,775.
Among automobile stocks, Hyundai Motor is up as much as 2.7%, while Kia Motor and Ssangyong Motor are trading higher by 1% and 1.8% respectively.
In the technology space, Hynix Semiconductor is gaining about 3%, Samsung Electronics is up 1% and LG Display LCD is up with a gain of 0.7%, while LG Electronics is trading lower by nearly a percent.
Among bank stocks, KB Financial and Shinhan Financial are up 2.2% and 2% respectively. Woori Finance is trading 1.2% up and Korea Exchange Bank is gaining about 0.8%.
Oil stocks are trading marginally higher. Among steel stocks, POSCO is up 2.5% and Hyundai Steel is gaining 0.3%.
Shipping stocks Daewoo Shipbuilding and Samsung Heavy Industries are up 2.7% and 1.6% respectively. Hyundai Heavy Industries is down marginally while STX Pan Ocean is trading lower by over 1%.
Telecommunications stocks SK Telecom and KT Corp. are trading notably higher, while airliners are exhibiting a mixed trend.
Among other markets in the Asia-Pacific region, Japan, New Zealand and Indonesia are up with notable gains. Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore are up marginally, while Australia, Shanghai and Taiwan are exhibiting weakness. Markets across the region closed mostly higher on Wednesday.
On Wall Street, stocks recovered after early weakness and ended modestly higher on Wednesday. The initial weakness in the markets came as some traders cashed in on the strong gains that were posted in the previous session, with a negative reaction to the latest batch of corporate results also generating some negative sentiment on a light day on the economic front.
The major averages ended the day well off their best levels but still closed higher for the second straight day. The Dow edged up by 9.7 points or 0.1% to 10,415.5, the Nasdaq rose 6.3 points or 0.3% to 2,215.7 and the S&P 500 closed up 1.6 points or 0.2% at 1,094.2.
Major European markets all ended lower on Wednesday. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 index ended down 0.9%, while the French CAC 40 index and the German DAX index lost 0.4% and 0.3% respectively.
Crude oil prices edged marginally lower on Wednesday, battling back from steep early losses following the release of official data showing a draw down in U.S. crude stockpiles. Light, sweet crude for September delivery ended down US$0.35 at US$75.42 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, bouncing back from a low of US$73.83.
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