Seoul shares rose on Monday on hopes Europe will come up with a plan to solve its debt problems, lifted by firm gains in crude oil refiners and airlines including S-Oil and Korean Air Line. The Korea Composite Stock Price Index finished up 1.62 percent at 1,865.18 points. The KOSPI 200 spot index gained 1.59 percent to 243.49 points and the junior Kosdaq market rose 2.42 percent to 485.38 points.
"As the worst of fears about Europe and a US recession appear to have passed, investor interest in stocks is remaining strong," said Kim Seung-han, a market analyst at HI Investment & Securities. There was a mutual sense of fear that if Europe fails to deliver, the global economy was in deep trouble at Saturday's meeting of G20 finance chiefs. Pressure was heaped on the eurozone finally to get on top of its debt crisis at a European leaders summit in eight days' time.
Foreign investors were buyers of a net 249.2 billion won ($215.6 million) worth of stocks, purchasing shares for a third-straight session. But investment managers were sellers of a net 43.7 billion won worth of shares, offloading stocks for a third session in a row. Crude oil refiners and airlines were buoyed as the won spiked more than 1 percent against the dollar on Monday, pointing to lower costs of importing crude and higher appetite for overseas tourism.
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