SEOUL: South Korean stocks traded 0.26 percent higher late Friday morning as investor sentiment got a boost from the previous day’s rate cut by the central bank, analysts said.
The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) moved up 5.31 points to 2,061.92 as of 11:20 a.m.
Tech behemoth Samsung Electronics climbed 1.19 percent, and Cheil Industries, Samsung Group’s de facto holding firm, also added 0.83 percent.
Cosmetics giant AmorePacific jumped 2.24 percent, and leading portal operator Naver shot up 5.65 percent.
The Bank of Korea slashed the key rate by a quarter percentage point to a record low of 1.5 percent Thursday amid growing uncertainty over the nation’s economic growth following the outbreak of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome.
The local currency was trading at 1,110.40 won to the U.S. dollar as of 11:20 a.m., down 1.6 won from the previous session’s close.
