South Korean shares rise on chip gains, set for weekly fall

SEOUL: Round-up of South Korean financial markets:

South Korean shares rose on Friday, led by gains in heavyweight chipmakers, but were still set for a third straight weekly loss amid worries about high bond yields.

The benchmark KOSPI was up 55.78 points, or 0.85%, at 6,635.26, as of 0152 GMT.

The index has fallen 2.1% so far this week.

Wall Street rallied on Thursday as investors curbed their rate-hike bets after US Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller said he would support holding the Fed funds target rate steady if data shows inflationary pressures are abating.

“The focus is on whether the surge in bond yields will continue to be capped going forward,” said Han Ji-young, an analyst at Kiwoom Securities.

Chipmaker Samsung Electronics rose 1.20% and peer SK Hynix gained 1.94%, tracking overnight gains in US peers. Among other index heavyweights, battery maker LG Energy Solution slid 0.82%, while Hyundai Motor and sister automaker Kia Corp were down 0.52% and 0.78%, respectively.

Steelmaker POSCO Holdings shed 1.17%, while drugmaker Samsung BioLogics fell 1.42%. Of the total 903 traded issues, 450 shares advanced, while 399 declined.

Foreigners were net buyers of shares worth 204.6 billion won ($150.72 million).

The won was quoted at 1,359.3 per dollar on the onshore settlement platform, 0.23% lower than its previous close at 1,356.2.

In money and debt markets, September futures on three-year treasury bonds were unchanged at 103.14.

The most liquid three-year Korean treasury bond yield rose by 0.4 basis point to 3.892%, while the benchmark 10-year yield fell by 0.7 basis point to 4.356%.