Seoul: Seoul shares pared earlier gains late Monday morning as heavy retail selling offset institutional and foreign buying. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 23.87 points, or 0.69 percent, to 3,469.11 as of 11:20 a.m. The KOSPI has rallied in recent sessions, hitting fresh record highs.
According to Yonhap News Agency, on Friday (U.S. time), the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.37 percent, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite added 0.72 percent. Retail investors sold a net 604.32 billion won (US$434 million) worth of shares, while institutions and foreigners bought a net 233.67 billion won and 385.74 billion won, respectively.
In Seoul, tech stocks were the lead gainers. Market bellwether Samsung Electronics jumped 5.02 percent, and its chipmaking rival SK hynix rose 0.85 percent. Samsung advanced after reports it received long-awaited approval from Nvidia Corp. for its high bandwidth memory chips. Top carmaker Hyundai Motor climbed 1.64 percent, and leading battery maker LG Energy Solution was up 0.29 percent.
Among decliners, leading shipbuilder HD Hyundai fell 2.17 percent, and leading steelmaker POSCO Holdings slipped 1.15 percent. Defense giant Hanwha Aerospace retreated 1.17 percent. The local currency was trading at 1,393.80 won against the U.S. dollar at 11:20 a.m., down 0.2 won from the previous session.