SEOUL: South Korean shares continued their seven-day rally to mark another intraday record early on Monday as Wall Street stocks strengthened after U.S. first-quarter GDP was revised up from earlier estimates. Strong investor sentiment offset North Korea’s launch of what appeared to be a short-range ballistic missile earlier in the day.
The Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) was up 0.64 per cent at 2370.27 points as of 0119 GMT – topping its record close at 2,355.30 on Friday. “There are not many negative factors in the market for the KOSPI, and demand seems still strong enough to push the index up a bit more,” said Kim Ji-hyung, a stock analyst at Hanyang Securities, althoug he noted the index faced some technical analysis adjustments after its recent rapid escalation. The KOSPI gained 3.7 per cent over the past six sessions, and 16.8 per cent for this year.
Decliners outnumbered advancers 427 to 348. Shares of Samsung SDI rose as much as 4.1 per cent on an upbeat outlook for second-quarter earnings. Chipmaker SK Hynix gained nearly 2 per cent. The South Korean won held steady at 1,120 against the dollar, little changed versus the previous close of 1,120.7. June futures on three-year treasury bonds was nearly flat at 109.48 points.
