Seoul shares rise

Seoul shares rose on Wednesday on growing hopes Greece would avoid a debt default, with firm gains in crude oil refiners and chemical issues including SK Innovation and LG Chem further boosting the market. The Korea Composite Stock Price Index ended up 0.77 percent at 2,063.90 points. KOSPI 200 September futures ended up 2.55 points at 272.35 points and the KOSPI 200 spot index rose 2.06 points to 270.71. The junior Kosdaq market ended up 0.91 percent at 463.77.
"The latest progress in Greece points to the likelihood of a rescue package by July, and this has sent relief across the market," said Kim Seong-bong, a market analyst at Samsung Securities. Index provider MSCI's decision that South Korea and Taiwan were not ready to join the ranks of developed markets in its benchmark indexes had limited market impact, analysts said. Shares in Korea Gas rose 1.8 percent after a local media report the company was working to raise gas tariffs by more than 5 percent next month, after a near-5 percent hike in May.
SK Innovation, the country's No 1 refiner, ended up 2.2 percent and S-Oil advanced 1.8 percent. Chemical issues also rose firmly, with SK Chemicals rallying 3.5 percent and LG Chem gaining 2.7 percent. But shares in Industrial Bank of Korea tumbled nearly 10 percent after a report the government was seeking to sell a stake in the bank in a block deal.
Memory chip makers were boosted by a 2.5 percent rise in the US Philadelphia semiconductor index. Samsung Electronics, the world's No 1 memory chip maker, rose 1.5 percent. Shares in Hynix Semiconductor rose 0.8 percent after news its top shareholders launched a third attempt to sell their $2.1 billion stake and find a buyer for the company.