April 25, 2024

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[THE INVESTOR] South Korean stocks ended higher on Dec. 15 as institutions became net buyers on bargain hunting. The Korean won fell against the dollar. 

The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index rose 12.59 points, or 0.51 percent, to close at 2,482.07. Trade volume was moderate -- 334.88 million shares worth 5.827 trillion won (US$5.3 billion) changed hands.

Institutional investors bought 421.93 billion won worth of stocks after offloading 15 billion won worth of shares on Dec. 14.

They remained net buyers in the 12 previous sessions up to Dec. 13.  

But individuals and foreigners offloaded a combined 450 billion won stocks to lock in gains.  

Auto and steel shares led the bourse, with top carmaker Hyundai Motor Co. rising 2.33 percent to 154,000 won and leading steelmaker POSCO climbing 0.91 percent to 333,500 won.

Tech stocks lost ground, however, with market bellwether Samsung Electronics Co. down 0.86 percent to 2,531,000 won and No. 2 chipmaker SK hynix Inc. down 0.39 percent to 75,700 won.

The local currency closed at 1089.80 won against the US dollar, down 0.70 won from the previous session‘s close.

By Alex Lee and newswires (alexlee@heraldcorp.com)