Seoul shares advanced 1.1 percent on Wednesday, lifted by firm gains in auto and technology issues, including Hyundai Motor and Samsung Electronics. The Korea Composite Stock Price Index ended up 23.79 points at 2,110.46 points. The KOSPI 200 March futures index rose 2.6 points to 278.90 points. The KOSPI 200 spot index advanced 3.63 points to 278.81. The junior Kosdaq index went up 0.33 percent to 524.71.
"Positive hopes ahead of key earnings results later this week helped, and investors also liked the tone of US President Barack Obama's speech during his State of the Union address," said Han Beom-ho, a market analyst at Shinhan Investment Corp. President Obama stressed a freeze on government spending and the need to lower corporate tax rates.
Shares in LG Electronics ended down 0.82 percent after having fallen as much as 4 percent. The world's No 3 handset maker posted a narrow quarterly loss, but it raised hopes for a much-awaited recovery in its money-losing handset business. "Given that there were a lot of seasonal marketing costs in the fourth quarter, quarterly numbers indicated LG Electronics did pretty good operations-wise," he said, adding that another upside was that numbers from its handset unit were also better than the market had expected since losses were less than the previous quarter's.
Auto shares rallied, buoyed by positive earnings expectations ahead of a results announcement later this week. Shares in Hyundai Motor, the country's No 1 automaker, and No 2 Kia Motors both climbed 4.2 percent. But shipping firms underperformed after Korea Line said late on Tuesday it had filed for receivership, squeezed by a sharp drop in dry-bulk rates and growing global vessel deliveries ordered before the economic turmoil of 2008. Shares in STX Pan Ocean ended flat and Hanjin Shipping dipped 1.5 percent. Memory chip makers advanced, with Samsung Electronics the world's No 1 memory chip maker, up 2.4 percent and Hynix Semiconductor gaining 2.9 percent.
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