April 25, 2024

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[THE INVESTOR] Korea’s main bourse ended sharply higher on Jan. 25 as positive prospects for the semiconductor market prompted investors to pick up tech blue chips, analysts said. The local currency strengthened against the greenback.

The benchmark KOSPI jumped 32.70 points, or 1.52 percent, to finish at 2,177.73, the highest since Oct. 10 last year, when the figure stood at 2,228.61. Trading volume was moderate at 402.96 million shares worth 6.93 trillion won (US$6.17 billion), with gainers outnumbering losers 519 to 288.

Offshore and institutional investors scooped up 813.9 billion and 93.7 billion won worth of stocks, respectively, while retail investors offloaded a net 882.4 billion of local shares.

The local currency closed at 1,121.3 won against the US dollar, up 7.3 won from the previous session.

By Ram Garikipati and newswires (ssh@heraldcorp.com)