South Korean stocks edged higher on Thursday following Wall Street's rises as investors sought shares beaten down in the recent rout. The Korea Composite Stock Price Index finished up 0.56 percent to 1,764.58 points, trimming early gains. KOSPI 200 September futures advanced 0.58 percent or 1.3 points to 226.70, narrowing early gains, pressured by programme-linked sales later in the session.
The KOSPI 200 spot index climbed 0.84 percent to 227.02. The junior Kosdaq market finished down 0.6 percent at 471.5. Losers topped winners by 438 to 394, as the biggest trades focused on large-cap stocks, and trading volume was down slightly to 391.2 million shares.
Insitutions purchased a net 160.8 billion won ($148.6 million) worth of shares, offsetting foreign and retail selling. Foreign investors dumped a net 46.7 billion won worth of shares, reversing the previous session's buying. Stocks initially rallied after Apple CEO Steve Jobs's resignation from his post lifted Apple's Korean rivals, with some hopes that the absence of the iconic figure may give them more room to compete with the US technology giant.
Samsung Electronics,the world's No 1 memory chip maker and the largest counter on the KOSPI, surged as much as 4.2 percent before finishing up 2.4 percent. LG Electronics which is suffering cut-throat competition in the smartphone sector, also rose 1.3 percent. Lee Dong-geun, fund manager at Heungkuk Asset Management, said institutions were slowly increasing positions in the tech sector that they had cut back recently on fears over another recession.
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