South Korean shares rise as chipmakers track US peers, set to end week lower

SEOUL: Round-up of South Korean financial markets:

South Korean shares rose on Friday, as chipmakers tracked overnight gains in US peers, but were still set to end the week lower.

The benchmark KOSPI was up 46.26 points, or 0.68%, at 6,898.84 as of 0214 GMT. The index has fallen 1% so far this week.

Chipmaker Samsung Electronics rose 3.14% and peer SK Hynix gained 3.67%, leading the benchmark higher, after the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index rose 0.5% on Thursday.

Samsung Electronics plans to hold a board meeting later in the day to discuss a new shareholder return package.

South Korea’s finance minister said authorities would pre-emptively assess risk factors in financial, foreign exchange, bond and housing markets and respond in a timely manner.

The new deputy chief of the Bank of Korea said that monetary policy decisions would be made ‘very carefully’ and flexibly if needed, taking into account various policy factors including the side effects of rate hikes.

Among other index heavyweights, battery maker LG Energy Solution slid 3.91%, while Hyundai Motor and sister automaker Kia Corp were down 1.44% and down 0.69%, respectively.

Steelmaker POSCO Holdings shed 4.51%, while drugmaker Samsung BioLogics fell 2.60%.

Of the total 903 traded issues, only 99 shares advanced, while 791 declined. Foreigners were net buyers of shares worth 296.6 billion won ($214.83 million).

The won was quoted at 1,382.7 per dollar on the onshore settlement platform, 0.96% higher than its previous close at 1,396.0.

In money and debt markets, September futures on three-year treasury bonds lost 0.06 point to 103.16.

The most liquid three-year Korean treasury bond yield rose by 2.4 basis points to 3.846%, while the benchmark 10-year yield rose by 3.2 basis points to 4.366%.