SEOUL– South Korean stocks posted the largest daily gain in 19 months as weaker-than-expected inflation in the United States raised hopes for less aggressive monetary tightening by the Federal Reserve.
The Korean won also surged against the U.S. dollar.
The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) jumped 80.93 points, or 3.37 percent, to close at 2,483.16 points.
Friday’s gain marked the largest daily since 3.5 percent recorded on Feb. 25, 2021.
Trading volume was high at about 748 million shares worth some 13.7 trillion won (US$10.4 billion), with gainers outnumbering losers 785 to 108.
Institutions bought a net 991 billion won and foreigners purchased 690 billion won, while retail investors offloaded 1.66 trillion won.
Stocks opened sharply higher taking a cue from overnight rally on Wall Street.
Overnight, the tech-heavy NASDAQ Composite surged a jaw-dropping 7.35 percent. The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 soared 3.7 percent and 5.54 percent, respectively.
The slower-than-expected U.S. inflation growth in October raised investors’ hopes that the Fed may tone down its aggressive rate hikes. The Fed’s last rate-decision meeting of the year is set for Dec. 13 and 14.
“The U.S. consumer price index (CPI) for October grew slower than expected, raising possibilities that the Fed may go softer with its monetary policies,” Daeshin Securities analyst Lee Kyung-min said.
In Seoul, market bellwether Samsung Electronics swelled 4.14 percent to 62,900 won, and No. 2 chipmaker SK hynix advanced 4.94 percent to 93,500 won.
Top automaker Hyundai Motor increased 1.47 percent to 172,000 won, and internet portal operator Naver surged 9.94 percent to 193,500 won. Chemical giant LG Chem gained 6.04 percent to 737,000 won.
The Korean won closed at 1,318.4 won against the U.S. dollar, skyrocketing 59.1 won from the previous session’s close.
Bond prices, which move inversely to yields, closed higher. The yield on three-year Treasurys lost 19.9 basis points to 3.834 percent, and the return on the benchmark five-year government bond fell 20.3 basis points to 3.894 percent.
Source: Yonhap News Agency